


Turnabout Pizzeria

by Antiloquist



Series: Turnabout Fazbear [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Child Death, Gen, Horror, Past Character Death, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-14 20:42:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4579329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antiloquist/pseuds/Antiloquist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Apollo Justice finds himself short on cases, he takes a second job, working the graveyard shift at a pizzeria. Simple, right? Except for the fact that the animatronics he's supposed to guard are trying to kill him. With Athena and Maya along for the ride, Apollo attempts to solve a mystery from forty years past and maybe even put some spirits to rest. Part one of a Five Nights at Freddy's/Ace Attorney crossover series. Originally written for the PWKM. No pairings, but be prepared for gratuitous Apollo/Athena friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The Graveyard Shift

 

Lawyers, though they often excelled at logical thought and problem solving, were (probably) still human. And like all humans, they needed to eat to survive. Most food had to be purchased with money. Money was obtained through working. Working was... a whole different story. One could have a job but do almost no work, and therefore obtain no money. There could be many reasons for this; lack of hours, lack of motivation, or lack of work to do.

The third was the reason Apollo Justice stood outside the building he was at in the dead of night. There hadn't been a case in two weeks, and one case's pay could only be stretched so far. To make up for the lack of cases, he had been forced to take an outside job.

However, the only one he could find on such short notice wasn't the greatest of jobs. A graveyard shift guarding a pizzeria? And for only $120 a week?! That had to be illegal... But money was money, and the growling of Apollo's stomach wasn't going to be sated by sitting there and complaining.

He still wondered why the heck Athena had insisted on coming with him, though.

“Eurgh...” Athena remarked. “This place gives me the creeps.”

“Then why are you here?” Apollo shot back, side-eyeing Athena. “You didn't have to come...”

Athena grinned. “I've never been to one of these places before! I always wanted to go as a kid, but... it probably would have been too noisy...”

“So your solution is to come with me, after hours, after everyone's gone home?”

“Yep!”

Apollo sighed. Truth be told, he was grateful she was there. This place _was_ creepy. How this was a venue for children... he'd never know. He glanced at his phone, which said 11:30, and took a deep breath.

There was a key taped to the back door with a note reading 'For the new guard – report to your office at 12 AM sharp! Don't be late!!!'

“Were the three exclamation points actually necessary?” Apollo asked, more talking to himself than to Athena.

He took the key and unlocked the door, which opened with a loud creak.

The first thing that greeted Apollo was cobwebs. Tons and tons of cobwebs. “Gross...” he remarked with a scowl. “You'd think they'd take better care of this place...”

“Well, isn't it set to close down later this year?” Athena questioned.

“Yeah. But... I don't know. Let's take a look around.”

The place was small, but Apollo somehow felt like anything could be hiding in the dark. The lights were dim to the point of almost being out, and everything cast gloomy shadows. The place definitely  _did_ give off the vibe of a pizzeria on the brink of shutting down, that was for sure...

“Look, Apollo!” Athena exclaimed as they entered the dining room. “Birthday hats!”

The place looked like any other cheesy pizzeria dining room. Posters were plastered on the walls, featuring lively characters. The tables were decorated with colorful birthday hats and the smell of stale, oily pizza lingered in the air.

“Looks normal enough...” Apollo remarked. His gaze looked around the room before finally settling on the stage. “Augh! What are those?!”

Athena approached the stage cautiously. “I think they're supposed to be the characters on the posters... But they're super run down and old... Not to mention creepy. Suddenly I'm not so sad I missed out on going to one of these places as a kid...”

“Yeah, really...” Apollo agreed, coming up next to Athena and turning his attention to the stage. There were three animatronic figures on the stage: a bear, a rabbit, and a chicken (or was it a duck? Apollo couldn't quite tell in the dim light). “How the heck do kids not find these things terrifying?”

“You'd be surprised what kids can block out...” Athena mused, frowning.

Apollo patted Athena gently on the upper arm. “C'mon,” he said softly, bringing her out of her thoughts. “Let's get to the office. I feel like these things are watching me.”

Athena nodded numbly, snapping out of her thoughts. “Yeah. No kidding...”

The two lawyers started down the hall to the security office. As Apollo turned back, he swore he saw one of the animatronics turn its head to face him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, time for the strangest thing that has ever come out of my brain. I've had to make a few plot changes from the PWKM version, but I'll make sure I note them as I come to them. I was originally gonna rename this to the much nicer-sounding Five Nights of Turnabout, but someone already used that title for their own (very fantastic!) fic. Go check that out if you can.


	2. Night One

Apollo's phone read 11:55 as he and Athena entered the dusty security office.

“There's even more cobwebs in here!” Athena exclaimed. “And there's only one chair...” She made a face.

On the single chair there was a small tablet. Apollo picked it up and turned it on. On the bottom left corner there was an indicator that read “Power: 100%” above a small green rectangle. It currently displayed nothing but a rough map of the facility with locations for cameras. Curious, Apollo tapped the button labeled “Cam 1C”. The monitor flipped to a static-filled view of what looked like a curtain with an “Out of Order” sign posted in front of it. A second green rectangle popped up next to the first, but the power indicator didn't change. A small clock at the top right corner read “11 PM”.

“Hey, I think this thing controls the cameras,” Apollo remarked, handing it to Athena for her to look at.

Athena flipped through a few more camera feeds before deactivating the device. “Hmm... That's cool, I guess. But something is bothering me.”

“Hm?” Apollo asked, turning his attention to the buttons on either side of him labeled “Light” and “Door”.

“Why is it so important that they have a night guard? This place doesn't look like it's gonna get hit by burglars any time soon...” Athena wondered, crossing her arms and absent-mindedly batting at her moon rock earring.

Apollo shrugged, reaching out and hitting one of the buttons that said “Light”. A light outside the door flickered on and ominously illuminated the hallway outside. “Why would they need these?”

“What do the door buttons do?” Athena asked, pushing the one to her left. She jumped back as a large metal door came down with a crash. “Whoa!” She hit the button again and the door retracted.

“W-Why do they need reinforced steel doors?” Apollo looked at Athena to see if she was as baffled as he was.

The phone rang, causing both of them to jump.

“Should we answer it?” Athena wondered.

“U-uh...” Apollo answered intelligently, feeling a bit silly that he was so scared of a dark building and a phone call.

The phone stopped ringing and went to the answering machine.

“ _Hello, hello? Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night,_ ” the voice, male from what they could tell, stated.

Apollo raised an eyebrow. "It's a recording?" Athena said nothing; instead, she only stared at the phone with a confused look on her face.

“ _Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?_ ”

“There's some discord in his voice...” Athena commented. “It's a bit hard to make out since it's a recording, but...” She activated Widget and had the little gadget assist her in analyzing what the man on the phone was saying.

“ _Uh, let's see, first there's an introductory greeting from the company that I'm supposed to read. Uh, it's kind of a legal thing, you know. Um, 'Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. A magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. Fazbear Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property or person. Upon discovering that damage or death have occurred, a missing person report will be filed within 90 days, or as soon property and premises have been thoroughly cleaned and bleached, and the carpets have been replaced.'_ ”

Apollo's jaw dropped. “Missing person report?! Replacing carpets?! What the hell kind of place is this?!”

Athena held up a hand as if to shush Apollo. “Shh...”

“ _Blah blah blah, now that might sound bad, I know, but there's really nothing to worry about. Uh, the animatronic characters here do get a bit quirky at night, but do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing those same stupid songs for twenty years and I never got a bath? I'd probably be a bit irritable at night too. So, remember, these characters hold a special place in the hearts of children and we need to show them a little respect, right? Okay._ ”

Apollo just picked up the tablet and sat numbly in the chair. “Quirky?” he managed in a weak voice. He had a feeling he had gotten himself into something way, way deeper than he could have ever imagined. The warning to be in the office at midnight, the reinforced steel doors, this man's warning... It all felt like something out of a bad horror movie to Apollo. And yet he was right there, living it.

“ _So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit. Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh... Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long. Uh, they used to be allowed to walk around during the day too. But then there was The Bite of '87. Yeah. I-It's amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe, you know?"_

Was this a joke? Was someone pranking him? Is that why Athena insisted on coming along? Were Trucy and Mr. Wright going to pop out of the backstage area after successfully scaring ten years off of Apollo's life expectancy?

“ _Uh, now concerning your safety, the only_ real _risk to you as a night watchmen here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to... forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit. Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices - especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort... and death. Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh._ ”

Apollo considered whether the measly pay was worth it. He wondered if he could make it if he made a break for the back door, which was... past the dining room... where the animatronics were. Instead, he lunged for the door buttons and shut both steel doors tight.

Athena had still said nothing this entire time. She stared silently at Widget's display screen, the soft blue glow providing a contrast to the dim yellow light of the office.

“ _Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night._ ”

The phone clicked, and the two lawyers were left with nothing but the sounds of the lights buzzing and the desk fan whirring quietly.

“He's scared,” Athena finally said.

“What?” was Apollo's eloquent reply.

Widget beeped as Athena moved some stuff around on the display screen. “Look at the reading for sadness and fear. It's off the charts, especially...” She moved some more stuff around. “Especially the parts where he talks about there 'being nothing to worry about'. He's hiding something.”

Apollo glanced out the left window nervously. “Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know what he was trying to hide... You think we could make it if we made a break for the back door?”

“Honestly? No. Those things were huge. And there were three of them... Hey, what did the guy say about running out of power? Pull up that tablet thing again.”

Pulling up the tablet, Apollo was shocked to the see that the power level had dropped to 92%. The man on the phone had said to only close the doors when 'absolutely necessary'... but what was absolutely necessary? He gulped, took a deep breath, and opened the doors.

Nothing lunged through the doors at him, and a quick check of both lights revealed the hallways to be empty.

“What do you think happens if we run out of power?” Athena asked uneasily.

“I really don't want to find out,” Apollo answered. He leaned back in his chair. “This has got to be a joke. A prank of some sort. There's no way that those things are trying to kill us.”

Athena frowned. “I hope you're right. Still, I'm not gonna take any chances out there...” She pressed a few more things on Widget's screen and dismissed the display. “Do you want to take a look at the cameras?”

“Not really, but do we have a choice?” Apollo replied, activating the tablet.

The tablet fired up, showing the gray and grainy view of the “Out of Order” sign. He flicked over to Cam 7, which apparently showed the restrooms. “Nothing funny here...” Athena remarked. “Uh... look at the hallways! The ones next to us!”

A quick check of Cams 2A, 2B, 4A, and 4B revealed nothing. He flicked over to Cam 3, the storage closet. Still nothing. “Here,” he said, handing the tablet to Athena. “You look for a second.”

Athena gingerly took the tablet in her hands and flicked the view around the different rooms. Suddenly, her eyes widened. “Uh, Apollo? There were three robots on the stage, r-right?”

Apollo didn't like where this was going. “Yeah... Why?”

“One's missing.”

“You're kidding!” he exclaimed, grabbing the tablet back and taking a look for himself. Sure enough, where there had previously been three animatronics, there were now only... two. The rabbit was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, Apollo felt very unsafe, even in this small office with Athena beside him. He rapidly flicked through the cameras, hoping to find the rabbit _somewhere_. His frantic flicking proved futile, as he could not find the rabbit anywhere. It wasn't possible for an entire animatronic to just disappear, was it?

A thump to the left of Apollo made him jump. Could it be?... Slowly... very slowly, he inched towards the left door. He gently touched the light button to illuminate the hallway outside.

The cheerful face of the rabbit animatronic greeted him. Apollo responded by yelping loudly and hitting the door button as hard as he could, slamming the steel door down in the rabbit's face. The light flickered for a moment longer and he could see the rabbit's shadow on the wall opposite the left window. He stumbled back and tripped on the office chair. Athena steadied him before he could fall, though she herself looked about ready to faint in fear.

“There's no _way_ that thing got over here so fast! We would have heard it!” Apollo said, trying to calm himself down from the near-heart attack he had had.

Athena realized something. “Apollo! The other door!” She lunged for the door button and closed that one too.

They sat for a moment, regaining their breath. For the time being, they were safe. Though the animatronics were large and intimidating, Apollo doubted they had the strength to break through steel doors. Or at least, he _really hoped_ they didn't have the strength to break through steel doors.

“Apollo... we can't keep the doors shut all night. We're gonna run out of power! The phone guy said so,” Athena said.

Apollo shook his head. “Nuh-uh. I am NOT opening that door. Besides, what does 'absolutely necessary' even mean, anyway?”

“The phone guy said they like to wander, right? What if we open the doors when they wander away from them? And then close them when they come back?” Athena suggested. A quick glance at the power meter showed that 88% of the power remained.

Seeing no other choice, Apollo checked the right door light for anything, and opened it when he found that there was nothing there.

“You think it's safe to open the other one?” Apollo asked.

Athena shrugged. “See if you can see if it's there from the window,” she suggested.

A quick glance out the window combined with the hall light revealed that the rabbit was, in fact, still there. Even through the thick steel door, Apollo and Athena could hear it making noises; a strange gurgling sound, mixed with robotic mumbling.

“Wait, what if it comes around the other side?” Apollo realized. “Do you think it knows that door is open?”

“I don't think it does... Didn't the phone guy say these things have been around a long time? Their AI couldn't be _that_ advanced... could it?” Athena replied with a frown.

The two lawyers heard a series of thumps to their left, steadily growing quieter. They exchanged nervous glances, and decided to chance opening the left door.

Apollo hit the light button the second the door was open. Nothing. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief and slumped back into the office chair.

Athena took the tablet and looked through the cameras again. “Look, Apollo. The rabbit's in the dining room,” she said, handing him the tablet so he could see for himself.

“Good. I hope it stays there,” he replied with a scowl. He glanced at his watch. 1 AM. Five hours to go. But what happened at 6 AM? Would the animatronics just deactivate? Would other employees arrive?

“Do you think they know we're here? The robots?” Athena wondered, taking a seat on the dusty desk and taking care not to touch any cobwebs.

Before replying, Apollo got up and hit the lights on both sides. Nothing. “I think it'd be pretty hard for them to _not_ know we're here.” Instead of sitting down, he leaned on the back wall and motioned to Athena that she could take the chair, which she gladly did.

Taking the tablet, Athena flicked through some more cameras. “Hey... Cam 6 doesn't have anything on it.”

“Huh? Let me see that,” Apollo said, taking the tablet from her. “You're right. Must be broken.” Noting the power level at 79%, Apollo handed the tablet off to Athena. He realized it was strange how calm they both were, even in the face of potential death by murderous robot. However, it wasn't _too_ strange; Apollo had definitely faced worse. He had faced down explosions, assaults, mob bosses, and even _more_ murderous robots.

Athena looked through everything else before freezing in shock. “A-Apollo?”

Uh oh. “Yeah?”

“The chicken is gone.”

Oh geez. Apollo took the tablet back from Athena and checked for himself. Sure enough, only the bear remained on stage... and it was looking straight at the camera. He turned the tablet off and placed it on the table.

“I'm fine...” he muttered. “I'm fine! We're going to be fine!”

Athena frowned. “You okay there?” she asked gently.

“I'm fine!” Apollo exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loud.

“Shh!” Athena hissed. “Do you want the robots to hear us?”

Apollo jumped up and tapped both lights. Still nothing. “Can they even hear to begin with?” he wondered.

“Do you really want to find out?”

“Not really.”

Suddenly, they heard loud crashes and clanking noises. The two lawyers looked at each other, as if almost to confirm that they were indeed hearing the same thing. “Oh geez... What's that?”

“Sounds almost like pots and pans,” Apollo remarked. “Y-you think something's in the kitchen?”

Athena pulled up the tablet again and tried to get the kitchen camera to work by tapping on it repeatedly. No dice. 71%.

A series of rhythmic thumps, this time to the right. Athena reached out with a shaking hand and pressed the light button to see what was out there.

She froze in fear as the face of the chicken animatronic appeared in the window, eerily lit by the harsh bright light. Athena quickly snapped out of her stunned state and slammed her hand down on the door button, locking it out.

Apollo swiveled around and checked the left door. No rabbit, no bear. They were good for now, but that door was going to drain their power. Athena flicked the light a few times; the chicken was still there.

“I-I'm fine...” Athena muttered. “I-I'm fine! I'm g-going to be fine!” Despite her words, she began to shake. Outside the door, the lawyers could hear the same groaning and robotic mumbling that the rabbit had done, and something about it bothered Athena.

“T-that's the spirit, Athena!” Apollo said, shaking quite a bit himself. A glance at his phone told them that they had just barely passed 2 AM. What was up with the time and why was it going by so weirdly?

Finally, the chicken left and Apollo was able to open the door. “Duck's gone,” he remarked to Athena.

“Duck? Isn't it a chicken?” she asked back.

“I'm not really sure, and I don't think we have the liberty to argue about it right now. Save it for the bus ride back,” he said. “Check for the bear.”

Athena pulled up Cam 1A, the show stage. The bear was indeed still present, which was one small mercy in this terrible night. 63%.

“Maybe the bear doesn't move?” Athena suggested.

“It better not,” Apollo said, scowling again. “This is so not worth $120 a week.”

Slowly, the two lawyers got the hang of what they were supposed to do. With only two animatronics after them, it was relatively easy for the two to keep them at bay with a bit of teamwork. It wasn't any less terrifying, but they were at least able to calm down, if only a little bit. In a situation like this, Apollo felt that calm was the only thing someone _could_ be, if they wanted to get out alive. The night passed smoothly, with Apollo taking the left door and Athena taking the right.

It was only at about 5 AM that something became different.

“You want to check if the bear has moved?” Athena asked.

“Might as well,” Apollo answered, pulling up the tablet to Cam 1A and moving a bit closer to Athena so she could see.

Athena breathed a sigh of relief. “Still there. That's a relief.”

Apollo went to turn off the tablet when his thumb accidentally brushed over 1C, Pirate Cove. What he saw nearly made him drop the tablet.

There was a fourth animatronic peeking out from behind the curtain.

“What the hell is that thing?!” he yelped.

“I think it looks like a coyote of some sort. Or a wolf? I wonder what it's doing back there?” Athena wondered.

Apollo shut the tablet off and put it on the table. 11%. “Of course there'd be a fourth robot... Because three was too easy...” He sighed. "This whole thing is so terrifying it's not even scary. I don't know. Does that even make sense?"  
  
Athena nodded. "You're so scared you've gone numb. It's a thing."

Some time passed. Apollo desperately hoped that it was close to 6 AM. He grabbed the tablet to find that they were on 1% of power. He gulped. He really, REALLY didn't want to find out what would happen when the power ran out. Since it took power to keep the doors closed, he figured these doors ran on electromagnets or something. He remembered reading about those in a magazine once; they opened when the power shut off to prevent people from being trapped inside.

The power ticked over to 0%. Any second now, they'd be in total darkness. Then...

Brighter lights came on. Some sort of loudspeaker system in the pizzeria played a chime, followed by a grainy recording of children cheering. If he wasn't so completely relieved, Apollo would have found it slightly creepy. He looked at his watch. 6 AM at last!

“W-we made it,” Athena said, sounding just as relieved as Apollo felt. “We're alive.”

Even though it was most likely safe to venture out into the pizzeria, neither Apollo nor Athena wanted to leave the safety of the small office. The doors and lights were still fully functional even on the pizzeria's daytime mode, but there really didn't seem to be a need for it.

“You think it's safe to go out there, Athena?” Apollo asked.

Athena shrugged. “The phone guy said they don't wander around during the day. But he also said there wasn't anything to worry about, so...”

They weren't going to get anything done just standing in the security office all day, so they decided to chance leaving through the left side.

However, they weren't expecting to run smack into the rabbit animatronic when they did.

Apollo yelped and leapt back, crashing into Athena and making her stumble back a few steps. They just stared at the rabbit, waiting for it to move. It didn't.

“M-maybe they don't move during the day...” Apollo whispered.

He had spoken too soon, apparently, because right after he said that, the rabbit lifted its head and looked at the two lawyers.

“Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life! I'm Bonnie! It's so nice to meet you!” it said raspily, mechanical jaw creaking as its mouth moved. The lawyers could detect a faint unpleasant smell coming from the rabbit – Bonnie – but neither one wanted to think too much about it.

Apollo and Athena exchanged terrified glances. Bonnie made no moves towards them. Slowly, they slipped by Bonnie and went further down the hall. The rabbit gave no chase.

The dining room was empty, save for the bear standing on the stage. Apollo could see the shadow of the chicken – duck – whatever it was – coming from the right side hallway. Though he suspected it would react much like Bonnie had, he still wasn't going to chance going near it.

As they approached the back door, it opened. The lawyers were momentarily terrified until they realized that it was another human who had entered the room.

The other person turned around as Apollo and Athena approached. They could see that the person was a woman, an older woman, with short gray hair.

She scowled at them. “Guess they hired two night guards this time,” she grumbled. “I'm surprised you're still here. Most of them just take off without warning. Whippersnappers...”

Athena spoke first. “I-I don't think we've met before, ma'am. Are you the daytime security guard?” she asked politely, feeling a little intimidated by this old woman.

“For now. I'll have to get a new job once this place shuts down. And look at you, actually greeting me politely instead of just barking out 'Who are you?' or shoving some meaningless drivel in my face! Kids these days are just so rude! All they want out of me is information. 'Where were you on this day?' 'Why were there two pictures in the camera?' 'Can we go in the studio?' HONESTLY. The _nerve_ of some kids! Back in _my day_ , kids were-”

The old woman droned on and on while Apollo and Athena just stared.

When the woman looked close to the end of her rant, Apollo cleared his throat softly. “U-um,” he started, glancing at the woman's nametag. “Wendy...”

“That's Ms. Oldbag to you, whippersnapper!” she barked, causing Apollo to take half a step back.

“E-er, Ms. Oldbag! Sorry. Um, yes, we're the new night guards,” he explained, not bothering to mention that only he was on the payroll; Athena had just tagged along. “I-I'd like to ask, have you seen anything strange around here?”

Oldbag frowned even more than she already had been. “What's strange is that there are two no-account lazy kids in front of me asking a bunch of meaningless questions! I have work to do! These animatronics don't move themselves!”

Apollo really wanted to say 'Actually, yeah, they did,” but he didn't really feel like making this woman any angrier than she already was. Instead, he asked, “Why do you have to move the animatronics?”

“Why? Because no-good lazy night guards like you and your friend here keep messing with them every night! Every time I come in, they're all over the place! Half the time there isn't even a night guard when I come in! You young people have absolutely no work ethic!” Oldbag exclaimed.

“S-so you've never witnessed anything else out of the ordinary with these robots, Ms. Oldbag?” Athena asked.

Oldbag shook her head, scowl growing even deeper. “No. Now get out so I can work!”

Apollo and Athena wasted no time in heeding the old woman's request.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apollo is the one that spams the doors at every noise and you can't tell me otherwise.


	3. Day Two

They walked around to the front of the building in order to make their way towards the nearest bus stop, which was a few blocks away. It was late autumn, so it wasn't light yet. In the darkness, the gloomy lights of the front sign flickered dimly. It really did give off the vibe of a seedy pizzeria on the brink of closing.

“Geez,” Athena huffed. “What was that old lady's problem?”

“Who knows? All I know is that I am never stepping foot inside that place again. Ever,” Apollo said.

Athena stopped short and got a conflicted look on her face. Apollo turned around and faced her. “Apollo...” she started.

“No. Whatever you're planning, no. Those things nearly killed us!”

Reaching up and grasping Widget lightly, Athena frowned. “I... I could hear their hearts, Apollo. When they were close to the door. They were crying out in pain and sadness! I can't just leave and not figure out why!”

“Athena, they're _robots_! They don't _have_ hearts!” Apollo exclaimed.

Athena scowled at Apollo. “You don't know that. Ponco and Clonco have hearts!”

Apollo opened his mouth to argue, but realized that she had a good point. “Athena... You're not seriously going to go back there tomorrow, are you?”

“So what if I am, huh?” she challenged, crossing her arms.

“ _You can't stop me!_ ” Widget added.

Sighing, Apollo admitted defeat. “Fine. I'm not letting you go back alone, though. I know you can take care of yourself, but those things were hard enough to deal with when there were two of us!”

Grinning, Athena gave Apollo a warm hug. “You're the best, Apollo!”

“We're not going in there unarmed, though. Bring something to defend yourself with, like a baseball bat,” he said, hugging Athena back gently. “I can't believe I'm doing this... This is the worst idea I've ever had!”

“It means a lot to me, though,” Athena said, releasing Apollo and taking the lead. “I just want to get to the bottom of this... I've never heard such pain and sadness in a voice before, as garbled as it was...”

They reached the bus stop.

“What the heck was wrong with that place?” Apollo asked himself quietly. The sky was just beginning to lighten a bit to the east, and the bus carrying all the Tuesday morning commuters would be there soon. All Apollo could think about was how nice it would be to sleep, though. Now that the sheer terror of what he had experienced had passed, he felt incredibly exhausted.

The bus arrived, and the lawyers got on wordlessly. It was about half full, with sleepy-eyed students and over-caffeinated commuters alike.

Athena yawned. “What time is it, Apollo?” she asked.

“It's... almost 7... Ugh. We gotta be at the office in two hours...” Apollo groaned, catching himself before he too could yawn.

“Is it even worth it for us to go to our apartments?” Athena wondered, slumping back in her seat.

Apollo sighed. “Want to just crash on the floor at the office?”

“We might as well...” Athena said, scowling.

A few minutes passed in relative silence. The bus slowly made its way through morning rush hour traffic.

Apollo was the one to break the silence. “Do you think they have a daytime mode or something? Is that why the rabbit wasn't trying to kill us when we ran into it?” he asked, keeping his voice low (for once) to avoid attracting the attention of the other passengers.

“They've got to have a daytime mode. How else would the place function?”

“Well, clearly it _hasn't_ been functioning, which is why it's closing down soon,” Apollo replied.

Athena thought for a moment. “Point taken.”

“I bet the duck would have said something similar if we had run into it instead of the rabbit.”

“Duck? I'm sure it's a chicken, Apollo,” Athena said.

Apollo raised an eyebrow. “How many yellow chickens do you see? It's a duck.”

Sighing, Athena shook her head. “Didn't you look at its feet? They weren't webbed like duck feet are. It's a chicken. Plus, many media portrayals of chickens have them as yellow!”

“It's a robot! Of course it doesn't have webbed feet,” Apollo retorted.

“So? What's the difference? You need to stop judging things based on narrow-minded cultural assumptions, Apollo! Let's just agree it's a bird,” Athena said with a pout.

The bus reached the closest stop to the Wright Anything Agency, and the lawyers hopped off. Since they were two hours early, the office was empty and locked. Apollo opened it with his key, and the two lawyers slipped in quietly. Right after entering, the first thing they did was turn on all the lights; the last thing they wanted was to be left in the dark.

The Wright Anything Agency had a few cots stashed in the back, commonly reserved for when the workload was so hectic that they couldn't afford to take the time to go home. There wasn't much in terms of cases to handle at the present moment, but neither Apollo nor Athena felt like going home, not after what they had been through.

“There we go,” Apollo said as he set down two cots next to each other, along with blankets and pillows. The cots weren't the most comfortable of sleeping spaces, but they would do.

Though he wouldn't admit it, Apollo was still pretty shaken from what happened. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see those robots' twisted faces... He was thankful for Athena's company. Somehow, everything seemed a little less scary with another person around.

Athena tried to get comfortable on the cot, with little success. “You want to turn off the lights?” she suggested.

“No,” was Apollo's immediate answer.

A moment of silence. Then... “Yeah, me neither,” Athena replied.

The two lawyers laid there in silence, attempting to get at least a little sleep. Every creak and bump startled them, though the noises could easily be explained as the building settling.

Slowly, Apollo drifted off into a light and uneasy sleep, what dreams he had becoming plagued with twisted images of mangled flesh and metal.

The sound of a door opening brought him back to wakefulness. He jumped a bit, managing to fall off the cot. Athena stirred a bit on the cot a few feet away from him. Apparently she was a heavier sleeper than he was.

Apollo turned his attention to the front door to find Phoenix and Trucy standing there, looking confused.

“Uh, good morning, Mr. Wright?” Apollo greeted, giving a bit of a sheepish grin.

“Hey there, Apollo,” Phoenix greeted back. “What are you doing sleeping here? You look like you've seen a ghost.”

Standing up, Apollo stretched, feeling some of his joints pop. Sleeping in daytime clothes was uncomfortable. “Well, I definitely saw something...”

“What do you mean, Polly?” Trucy asked.

Athena finally woke up. She looked up sleepily at everyone. “Oh, hey Boss... When did you get here?” she said between yawns. Apollo wondered how she could sleep so easily after what she had been through.

Phoenix chuckled. “Well, when did _you_ get here, huh?” he fired back with a grin.

“Around seven,” Athena answered with another yawn, pulling himself up to a sitting position. “What's Trucy doing here?... Isn't it Tuesday?”

Trucy grinned. “Teacher planning day. Students get the whole day off.”

Apollo took both cots and put them away. It seemed like there was no more time for sleep, at least not now.

“Mr. Wright...” he began, trailing off. “Does the place 'Freddy Fazbear's Pizza' mean anything to you.”

After thinking for a moment, Phoenix nodded. “That's that pizza place downtown with the creepy robots, right? I took Trucy and Pearls there a few times when they were little. Why?”

Apollo sighed. “Well... I took on a job there guarding the place during the graveyard shift. I figured I might as well since we haven't had a case in two weeks.”

“Uh huh...” Phoenix said, nodding in understanding. “And?”

“So last night was the first night. And Athena wanted to go with me for... whatever reason. So we got there, and...” he sighed again. “This is gonna sound totally crazy.”

“What, Polly?” Trucy asked. “What happened?”

Athena interjected this time. “The robots come alive at night!” she exclaimed. “And... they uh... tried to kill us...” It seemed like Athena also knew how ridiculous this sounded when they explained it to someone who hadn't been there.

Trucy gasped. “You mean those big robots are... evil?”

Phoenix remained silent for a moment, thinking. “You know... I would say that's pretty crazy, but I've honestly seen crazier in all my years. I believe you two. You're not going back there, are you?”

“Uh...” Apollo said intelligently.

“We have to!” Athena exclaimed. “There's something that's hurting those robots – making them lash out – and we have to get to the bottom of this before anyone else dies!”

“ _They were so sad!_ ” Widget said.

Phoenix sighed. “If I told you that you shouldn't, you'd go anyway, huh?” he asked.

Athena nodded fiercely. “Yes! Like you haven't done anything dumb before either, Mr. Wright! Apollo's told me tons of stuff. Like that time you got hit by a car and just walked away!”

“Well, you're both adults, and I can't really stop you. But if you're right about this, you know how dangerous it is to go back, right?” he asked.

“Of course we do, Mr. Wright,” Apollo answered. “I tried to talk her out of it but she insisted. I don't really want to go back, but... I can't just let her go back alone. Those things were awful enough to keep away with the both of us there.”

Phoenix smiled gently. “That's very brave of you, Apollo. I hope you're not going back empty-handed, though. I think we have some large props laying around that Trucy uses sometimes. You should both take something to defend yourself with.”

Athena grinned. “Thanks, Boss! You're the best!”

Apollo and Athena searched through the props. Athena settled on a sturdy golf club while Apollo picked up a baseball bat. What magic tricks these were used in, Apollo could only wonder. Knowing Trucy... anything went, pretty much.

“Um... Polly?” Trucy asked, hesitantly.

“What's up, Trucy?” Apollo asked her as he sat down at his desk.

She looked away, gripping her diamond-shaped brooch. “Just please be careful...”

Apollo nodded. “Of course. Is everything okay?”

Trucy grinned. “Yep!” She then skipped off to go see what her father was doing. Apollo's bracelet reacted, but he decided to let it go for now. She was probably startled by everything; after all, she had gone to that pizza place as a kid.

Opening up the laptop on his desk, Apollo decided it was time to research Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, and see if anything happened there that could give him answers. He figured it would be best to start simple, so he opened up a search engine and typed “ _freddy fazbear's pizza_ ”.

He got a few thousand hits in response. Their official website (which looked like it hadn't been updated in at least ten years) didn't have much other than their hours, contact info, party services, and a bunch of pictures from back when the place wasn't as run-down.

A few links down from the official website, after skipping past some not-so-favorable restaurant reviews (apparently the pizza was mediocre at best), he came across something that looked like it would help him; a newspaper article, dated to about forty years ago. Opening up the page, he was shocked at what he found.

“ ** _Kids vanish at local pizzeria – bodies not found._**

_Two local children were reportedly lured into a back room during the late hours of operation at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza on the night of June 26 th  . While video surveillance identified the man responsible and led to his capture the following morning, the children themselves were never found and are presumed dead. _

_Police think the suspect dressed as a mascot to earn the children's trust.”_

Apollo's blood ran cold and his whole body felt numb. He had had a feeling that there was _something_ messed up that had happened at this place, but the murders of _children_...

He clicked on a related article.

“ ** _Five children now reported missing. Suspect convicted._**

_Five children are now linked to the incident at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, where a man dressed as a cartoon mascot lured them into a back room._

_While the suspect has been charged, the bodies themselves were never found._

_Freddy Fazbear's Pizza has been fighting an uphill battle ever since to convince families to return to the pizzeria._

_'It's a tragedy.'”_

There was another related article, dated around the same time as the first two. Apollo clicked on it shakily.

“ ** _Child injured at local pizzeria due to animatronic malfunction._**

_Yesterday, a child – who shall remain nameless for their protection – was injured at a local Freddy Fazbear's Pizza chain restaurant, after an animatronic malfunctioned and bit down on their head._

_The child survived and is being cared for at the local hospital. Investigations are underway as to how the animatronic, modeled after a bear, could have malfunctioned in such a way.”_

Numbly, Apollo clicked on the next article.

“ ** _Local pizzeria threatened with shutdown over sanitation._**

_Local pizzeria, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza has been threatened again with shutdown by the health department over reports of foul odor coming from the much-loved animal mascots._

_Police were contacted when parents reportedly noticed what appeared to be blood and mucus around the eyes and mouths of the mascots. One parent alikened them to 'reanimated carcasses'.”_

There was one more article, dated (strangely enough) to earlier this year.

“ ** _Local pizzaria said to close by year's end._**

_After a long struggle to stay in business after the tragedy that struck there many years ago, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza has announced that it will close by year's end._

_Despite a year long search for a buyer, companies seem unwilling to be associated with the company._

_'These characters will live on. In the hearts of kids, these characters will live on.' - CEO”_

“A-Athena?” Apollo called, noticing that his voice had taken on a strained tone.

“Huh?” Athena said, looking up from her desk.

Apollo ushered her over to him. “I think you need to take a look at this.”

He handed her the laptop and sat quietly as she read through the articles, expression and Widget growing sadder and sadder with each article read.

“Th-that's... awful,” she choked out as she numbly handed the laptop back to Apollo when she was done reading. “Those poor children...”

“Do you think it has anything to do with the animatronics?” Apollo wondered.

Athena frowned. “Hmm... Well, maybe... But that's ridiculous... Are ghosts even real?”

“They are very real,” a third voice interjected.

Apollo and Athena jumped before realizing it was just Phoenix.

“Sorry,” Phoenix said with a sheepish grin. “Didn't mean to scare you. But yes, ghosts are real. You know how Pearls is a spirit medium over at Kurain?”

Athena nodded. “Yeah... But what exactly _is_ a spirit medium, Boss?”

“What she can do is impressive. Pearls has the power to channel spirits into her body, letting us communicate with the dead,” Phoenix explained. “Maya can do the same thing. You two remember Maya, right? My old assistant?”

Apollo nodded. “Yeah. She came down for a bit earlier this year, and she managed to eat more than Trucy over at Eldoon's. I never thought that was even possible.”

“Hey!” came the distant, slightly offended call from Trucy, who was reading a book in another room.

“Anyway,” Phoenix continued. “Their abilities saved my hide many times over the years... though sometimes I also came just as close to being killed...”

Athena tilted her head in confusion, absent-mindedly batting at her earring again. “But wait... if they can talk to ghosts, then why don't the police just ask victims who killed them?” she asked.

“Oh, they tried, about twenty five or so years ago. But it stirred so much controversy that the spirit medium the police went to – Maya's mother – was forced to go into hiding...” Phoenix said; Athena could detect traces of sadness in his voice as he recounted this.

“Do you think that what's going on at the pizzeria has to do with spirits?” Apollo questioned.

Phoenix shrugged. “Could be. You two kids get some rest. If you don't want to go home, and I don't blame you if you don't, then you can set the cots back up. Trucy and I will be quiet.”

Athena didn't have to be told twice, apparently. No sooner than when the words were out of Phoenix's mouth did she spring up and begin to set the cots back up. “Thanks, Mr. Wright!” she exclaimed.

Apollo didn't really have a problem with resting more. In fact, though he wouldn't admit it, he was exhausted. He took his cot again and drifted into another uneasy sleep.

This time, he was lucky enough to not be plagued by dreams. The cot didn't exactly provide him with _good_ sleep, but at this point, any sleep would do for him.

He woke up hours later to the sound of Phoenix and Trucy talking. Athena was still out cold on the other cot.

Sitting up, Apollo stretched and tried to shake off the stiffness that came from sleeping on an uncomfortable surface.

Trucy looked over at him. “Oh, Polly. You awake?” she asked.

“No. I'm sleepwalking,” Apollo replied dryly.

“Don't be silly,” Trucy responded with a giggle. Then she got a serious look on her face. “I wanted to tell you something I remembered, from when Daddy took me to Freddy Fazbear's as a kid.”

Apollo pulled himself to a standing position and sat on the couch across from Trucy. “What happened?”

“Well... I didn't really think much about it for years, not until you told me those robots were deadly... I saw one move,” she confessed. “One of the times I was there with Daddy and Auntie Maya and Pearl, I let my curiosity get the better of me. There was this big purple curtain, but every time I went there, it said that it was out of order. I really, really wanted to know what was behind it though. So when Daddy and Auntie Maya weren't looking, I sneaked over there and went behind the curtain,” Trucy explained.

“Don't you know how dangerous that was?!” Apollo questioned, briefly slipping into protective mode.

Trucy frowned. “Well, I do _now_... especially now that I know that I could have easily been... Anyway, there wasn't too much back there, but there was this mockup of a pirate ship and standing in front of it was this huge robot! I think it might have been a wolf or a fox... it's been too long and I can't really remember... But when I went behind the curtain, it looked up at me. It had really creepy glowing eyes... I can still remember those now... It started to walk over to me and I got really scared. Then when it got close enough to reach out and touch me, an employee pulled me out of there and walked me back over to Daddy...”

“What did Mr. Wright do?” Apollo asked.

“I didn't get to have dessert that night,” she said with a pout. “But now I'm really glad that employee saw me go in there... I don't know what would have happened i-if...” she trailed off and began to shake.

Apollo walked over to her side of the table and wrapped her in a gentle hug. “Hey, it's okay. You're here and you're just fine, right?” he said in an attempt to cheer her up. After the ordeal Trucy had been through the previous year, Apollo wouldn't be surprised if she had developed a fear of robots somewhere down that line that was causing her to retroactively react badly to this memory.

Looking up, Trucy grinned at Apollo and blinked back the tears that had been threatening to form at the corner of her eyes. “Right. I'm fine.”

“Say it like you mean it,” Apollo instructed.

“I'm fine!” she said, a little stronger.

Grinning, Apollo nodded. “And who are you?”

“I'm Trucy Wright and I'm fine!”

A noise from over on the floor brought Apollo and Trucy's attention over to Athena, who had apparently been woken up by the yelling.

“You're not trying to impart your 'Chords of Steel' onto Trucy, now are you?” Athena asked sleepily, small smile on her face. “You're both really loud...”

Trucy grinned sheepishly and tipped her hat. “Sorry, Athena. Just telling Polly something I remembered.”

The opening of a door brought everyone's attention over to Phoenix, who had just gotten finished with scrubbing the toilet, apparently.

“Ready to go, Trucy?” he asked.

Trucy hopped up and grabbed a small bag that had been sitting next to the couch. “Yep!”

Apollo raised an eyebrow. “Go? Go where?”

“Daddy and I are going to Kurain to visit Auntie Maya! It's just for tonight, and we'll be back early tomorrow,” Trucy explained.

Confused, Apollo looked over at Phoenix for clarification. Why now, of all times, were they headed out there?

“I've got an idea of how I can help you and Athena get to the bottom of your animatronic problem. I read the articles you left up. If something goes wrong over at the pizzeria, let me know. You've got my number, both of you,” Phoenix said, walking over to the front door.

Apollo wondered what in the world Phoenix would even be able to do while two hours away in Kurain, but he supposed that with the number of people on the force that Phoenix was close with, he could have someone over at the pizzeria in a matter of minutes.

Before following her father, Trucy gave both Apollo and Athena big hugs. “Please be careful...” she said with a concerned look on her face.

Athena nodded. “We will! Don't worry about us! Give Pearly a big hug for me, okay?”

“Okay!” Trucy exclaimed with a nod. She and Phoenix left through the front door, and suddenly the agency felt a lot emptier.

“Now what?” Apollo asked. He looked at his phone and saw that it was about 4:30; he had slept longer than he thought he had.

Stretching, Athena popped her joints just as Apollo had after he had woken up. “I dunno about you, Apollo, but I feel all gross. I want to go home and take a shower.”

She had a point. A shower was sounding pretty nice about now, especially after sleeping on that cot. “I think I'll do the same. Meet at my place at about ten? We'll get something to eat then head over there,” Apollo suggested.

“Sounds like a plan!” Athena said with a grin.

Apollo sighed. “I can't believe you talked me into doing this...”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duck or chicken? Don't judge things by narrow-minded cultural assumptions, Apollo!


	4. Night Two

It hadn't even been a day since Apollo started that job, and yet to him, it felt like forever since he had last been alone. Athena had been by his side since early the night before, and now it felt strangely quiet to be alone.

The first thing Apollo did upon getting back to his apartment was turn on every single light. He didn't really care if the landlord got upset over utility costs; there was just something comforting in the thought of having light nearby (light that wasn't in danger of burning out, that was).

The hours leading up to ten seemed to melt together for Apollo. He took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and generally tried to distract himself from the thought of what he was getting into.

A soft knock at Apollo's door announced Athena's arrival.

“Come in!” he called.

Athena opened the door and quickly shut it behind her. She too had changed her clothing, and the golf club she borrowed from Trucy was in her right hand.“Hey,” she greeted. “I see you've got all the lights on too...”

A quick glance at Widget told Apollo that Athena was just as scared as he felt. Neither really wanted to go back to that hellish place, but they felt they had to. The culprit may have supposedly been caught forty years before, but there was still something unsolved lingering about with those five children. And Apollo had a feeling that the animatronics had something to do with it.

Retrieving the baseball bat from his room, Apollo took a few practice swings, taking care to not hit anything in the process.

“You ready to go?” Apollo asked.

Athena gulped. “Ready as I'll ever be, I guess... Eldoon's first? He's open late.”

Apollo made a face. “Eurgh... Eldoon's again? Bluh... Well, at least it'll be nice to see another friendly face...”

“Don't be such a wuss, Apollo. You can always water down the broth to make it less salty,” Athena countered with a grin, though Widget showed she was anything but happy.

The two lawyers set out for the noodle stand. Apollo didn't live far from People Park, so the walk was short. The late autumn wind whipped around them as they walked, and Apollo was glad he had dressed warmly.

Eldoon was quite pleased to see them. “Hey there, sonny-boy. What brings you out here this late? And you've got smiley-girl with you!”

Athena nodded at Eldoon. “Hi there, Mr. Eldoon! Apollo and I are stuck working late so we wanted to get something to eat before everywhere closed down.”

“Well, nothing will wake you up like a bowl of noodles!” Eldoon exclaimed. “The usual, I assume?”

“Yeah, I guess. Easy on the salt this time, please...” Apollo muttered.

“What? Salt is the heart and soul of noodles!” Eldoon said with a scowl. “But if you insist...”

Apollo and Athena ate their noodles slowly, making light conversation with Eldoon and trying to calm their nerves for what lay ahead. Eventually, there were no more excuses to delay heading out to the pizzeria, as the noodles were finished and it was about time for Eldoon to close up shop for the night.

“Thanks, Mr. Eldoon!” Athena exclaimed, now having finally calmed down enough for Widget to revert back to a neutral expression.

“Not a problem, smiley-girl. Don't be a stranger now! And bring Mr. Wright and Trucy-doll sometime too,” Eldoon said, smiling.

Looking at his watch, Apollo was stunned to see that it was already eleven. “Well, we better go before it gets too late. See you later, Mr. Eldoon.”

“Take care!” he exclaimed.

The two made their way out of People Park and towards the bus stop. Now that they were essentially alone again, fear began to creep back in.

“You don't have to do this, Apollo,” Athena said quietly as they waited for the bus that would take them to the pizzeria.

Apollo frowned. “Believe me, Athena: I don't _want_ to do this. And neither do you. But now we've gotten ourselves in over our heads. I want to know the truth just as much as you do. I'm just not too thrilled with the thought of facing down murderous robots to get it; I had enough of that last year...”

The bus came, one of the last on that route for the night. They paid their fare silently and took two seats near the middle of the bus. There were only a few other people scattered about the bus.

“Do you want to take the left side again, Apollo? I noticed that the rabbit... um, Bonnie, I think it was, only really approached on the left,” Athena stated.

“And the bird came on the right side,” Apollo said, nodding to indicate that he would be taking the left again.

Athena sighed. “That bear, though... Something about it worries me. It didn't move last night, but... what if it does tonight?”

“I don't really want to think about it, but I guess we'll have to keep it out like we did with the other two,” Apollo answered.

Outside the window, the sky was inky black. In the late fall, there really wasn't much room for daylight, and the nights were often gloomy. Apollo definitely preferred the warmer months, that was for sure. Somehow, though, Apollo had a feeling that this wouldn't be any less terrifying if it had happened during the day rather than at night.

“What about the wolf thing? Do you think it's a threat? We didn't see it until almost the end of the shift last night...” Athena said.

“I think it's a fox – at least, that's what Trucy thinks. And I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it.” Apollo looked at his phone. 11:30. Time was moving much too fast for his liking.

Finally, the bus arrived at their destination, and it was with great hesitation that they pulled the stop cord and got off. Every rational part of Apollo's brain was screaming at him that this was stupid; that he should take Athena and run as far away from this place as humanly possible. But he had to know; what had happened to those kids to make them so vengeful?

They made their way around to the back door. No new notes were posted for anyone, so Apollo shakily took the back door key out of his pocket and went to unlock the door.

“Ready when you are,” he said, trying to hide that he was terrified (not that it would do any good with Athena of course).

He opened the door.

To Apollo's relief, nothing jumped out at him. However, that didn't mean that he was in the clear, either. It wasn't quite midnight, but who even knew what these animatronics were capable of anyway?

The contrast that existed between the dimly lit interior and the streetlight-washed exterior meant that Apollo and Athena could barely see anything inside the pizzeria. For all they knew, an animatronic could have been waiting right by the door for them.

The two lawyers exchanged nervous glances. Neither really seemed to want to go inside the pizzeria, and yet here they were at the back door.

“O-on three?” Athena suggested.

Apollo nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Okay... One... Two... THREE!” Athena called. The two lawyers dashed into the pizzeria, clearing the dining room in a matter of seconds. They dashed down the (thankfully) empty hallway and darted into the security office.

Athena chanced a peek outside the left door and down the hall after catching her breath. “I think they're still on the stage,” she said. “I can't see anything but I don't hear them moving around.”

From the singular chair, Apollo looked at Athena nervously. “I wouldn't stick my head out there if I were you...” he warned. “We still don't know what that fox can do.”

“Point taken,” Athena replied, pulling herself into the (relative) safety of the office. “What time is it?”

Glancing at his phone, Apollo frowned. “11:55...”

Widget went purple. “Five minutes, huh?” was Athena's apprehensive reply.

“We'll be fine! Um, as long as we don't run out of power... But now that we know how the doors work we can use less power,” Apollo said in an attempt to reassure Athena (and himself).

Athena glanced at the phone. “You think we'll get another recording tonight? The phone guy did say he pre-recorded multiple messages.”

Apollo shrugged. “We'll see in a few minutes. Personally, I hope so. He may be hiding stuff but he's the only guide we've got to dealing with these things.”

As if on cue, the phone rang. The sudden sharp chirp cut through the quiet night and startled Apollo, though he had expected it to come.

Like last night, they let it go over to the answering machine (just how old _was_ this phone?). Athena opened up her Mood Matrix and prepared to examine the phone guy's words again.

“ _Uh, hello? Hello? Uh, well, if you're hearing this then you made it to day two, uh, congrats!”_

This wasn't exactly the most reassuring opening line for Apollo and Athena. If making it to day two was something to congratulate, then...

“ _I-I won't talk quite as long this time since_ _Freddy_ _and his friends tend to become more active as the week progresses. Uhh, it might be a good idea to peek at those cameras while I talk just to make sure everyone's in their proper place, you know._ ”

Sighing, Apollo picked up the tablet and directed it to the show stage. Sure enough, Bonnie had already moved its way off the stage and into the dining room, and it wasn't even 12:05 yet. This was getting off to a truly  _ wonderful _ start, Apollo thought. The chicken and the bear were, thankfully, still on the stage.

“ _Uh... Interestingly enough, Freddy himself doesn't come off stage very often. I heard he becomes a lot more active in the dark though, so, hey, I guess that's one more reason not to run out of power, right?_ ”

Welp, now they knew what happened if they ran out of power... In all honesty, there was something about the bear – Freddy – that scared Apollo way more than Bonnie or the duck. It may not have left the stage yet, but Apollo could feel something... sinister coming from it; almost as if it were observing them.

“ _I-I also want to emphasize the importance of using your_ _door lights_ _. There are blind spots in your camera views, and those blind spots happen to be right outside your doors. So if-if you can’t find something- or someone -on your cameras, be sure to check the door lights. Uh, you might only have a few seconds to react... Uh, not that you would be in any danger, of course. I'm not implying that._ ”

“More discord...” Athena muttered, moving things around on Widget's screen.

“ _Uh, also, uh, check on the curtain in_ _Pirate Cove_ _from time to time. The_ _character_ _in there seems unique in that he becomes more active if the cameras remain off for long periods of time. I guess he doesn't like being watched. I don't know. Anyway, I'm sure you have everything under control! Uh, talk to you soon!_ ”

The phone clicked off, leaving them with just the buzzing of the lights and the whirring of the fan. Apollo was sure that fan sucked up their power, but he couldn't find a plug or an off switch for it anywhere.

“Well...” Apollo said quietly... “I guess we know what happens when the power goes out, huh?” he asked, voice a little weak from fear. “And what the fox does...”

Athena frowned. “What I got from that recording was more fear, mostly. I think he's holding back on something... My guess is that he's trying to downplay how scary this whole thing is so that the new guards don't chicken out on the first night...”

“Speaking of chicken, check the cameras,” Apollo suggested.

Nodding, Athena turned on the tablet. “Freddy and the bird are on the stage. Looks like Bonnie's in the supply closet now...”

“Which camera was Pirate Cove, again?”

It took Athena a few tries to get to the right camera. “Um, it's 1C. Doesn't look like anything's there, but I don't really feel like keeping the cameras on too long... We barely made it last night as it was...”

“I don't really want to face down that fox if I don't have to,” Apollo said, tightening the grip on his baseball bat. “Something tells me it's a lot trickier than the other three.”

“Well why else would it be out of order?” Athena suggested. “Clearly there's something different about it.”

Apollo thought back to the articles that he and Athena had read earlier in the day. “Actually, I'm pretty sure it's been out of order for a long time. It's been back there at least since Trucy was a kid. For all we know, it could have been back there ever since those kids died, or even before that.”

Athena's eyes widened. “But didn't that take place decades ago?” she asked, a little in shock.

“1987.”

“So let me get this straight... That thing has been hiding back there for potentially over forty years?!” Athena said incredulously.

Frowning, Apollo nodded. “Basically.”

Athena threw her hands up in exasperation. “Why don't they just fix it? Or get rid of it? Why keep it for forty years?!”

“Who even knows anymore with this place?...” Apollo remarked.

A quick tap of both lights revealed nothing, and while they could hear faint thumping, it didn't sound close enough to be a threat... just yet.

Handing the tablet to Apollo, Athena leaned against the back wall. “Here. Your turn to look at the creepy robots.”

Apollo side-eyed Athena. “Gee, thanks...” he muttered. He flicked through the different feeds. “Bird's out.”

“Freddy?”

“Still on the stage.”

That was a good thing, at least. “Maybe we won't ever have to deal with Freddy if we play our cards right,” Athena theorized. “Um, Bonnie?”

“Backstage,” Apollo answered, holding up the tablet so Athena could see for herself.

“Eurgh... The backstage area looks so creepy with all those robot parts,” Athena commented. “Especially that endoskeleton thing on the table...”

Apollo nodded. “Yeah, really... W-wait a second...”

“Huh?” Athena replied, confused.

Frowning, Apollo gestured to the phone. “Didn't the phone guy say that these animatronic things would stuff any empty skeletons they see into costumes?”

“Yeah, but what's your- oh. Ohhhhhh...” Athena realized. “You're wondering why Bonnie isn't doing anything about the skeleton on the table.”

Sure enough, every time they flicked back to the stage from other cameras, Bonnie continued to do nothing about the skeleton on the table. A few minutes passed in silence, with (surprisingly) no animatronic visits.

“I think I figured it out,” Athena finally said.

“Huh?” It was Apollo's turn to be confused.

Athena took the tablet and pointed it to the backstage area. Bonnie had moved into the dining room with the bird, but the skeleton still sat there on the table, untouched. “That's backstage. Maybe they don't mess with the skeleton back there because it's where it's supposed to be. This office is a little bit out of the way, but it's still the front of the restaurant.”

Apollo just sat there for a second, thinking. “That... that makes a lot of sense, I guess. Just as much sense as anything here, really,” he admitted with a shrug.

There was a series of thumps to their left, growing steadily closer. Technically, it was Apollo's job to man the left door, but since Athena was currently closer, she reached out to tap the light instead. Sure enough, Bonnie was there.

Taking a half-step back in surprise, Athena quickly hit the door button, locking Bonnie out and her and Apollo in.

She stood there for a second, listening to Bonnie's robotic mumbling. Then, she opened the door.

Apollo jumped up. “Athena?!”

Athena put out a hand to stop Apollo. “I want to try something,” she said.

“Are you crazy?!”

She ignored him. Instead, she put her hand on the light button and looked out at Bonnie, who looked back at her with unfeeling eyes. Her heart was pounding; she was beyond scared. Still, she had to try.

“H-Hi there,” she said uneasily. “I-I'm Athena and this is Apollo. We're not skeletons; we're lawyers! A-And we're here to help you.”

“Athena...” Apollo tried to say, but it came out more like a terrified whine than a name.

Bonnie just stood there in the flickering light, doing nothing.

The door light gave one big flicker and momentarily went out. When it came back on, Bonnie was still in the same place, but its arm was outstretched towards Athena.

“No!” Apollo yelled, going at Bonnie with the aluminum baseball bat. Another flicker, and Apollo felt the bat stop suddenly with a loud clank. When the lights came back, he saw why.

The animatronic had grabbed the bat.

Apollo screamed rather ungracefully and pushed on the bat with all of his strength, trying to make the animatronic back up. He was slightly successful, and Athena was able to shut the door.

Sliding down against the closed door, Apollo just stared at the floor. That had been close; too close for his liking.

“Athena?” he asked quietly.

“Y-yes?”

He looked up at her. “Never do that again.”

“You don't have to tell me twice... Okay, back to the drawing board.”

Apollo gave her a pointed look. “Yeah, no kidding. Can these things even be talked to?”

Athena shrugged. “Doesn't look like it. I guess we'll have to wait for Mr. Wright to get back from Kurain with Maya... Are they gonna try what I think they're gonna try?”

“No clue. We'll just have to wait and see. Ugh, I can't believe I'm even considering coming back to this place again,” Apollo said, groaning and scrambling back to his feet. There were more thumps going down the hallway, and Athena opened the left door after affirming that it was safe (or as safe as it could ever be) to do so.

Left tap, safe; right tap, safe. Athena sighed. “I'm sorry to drag you into this, Apollo...”

Tablet check. Bonnie in the closet; bird in the dining room. “Nah, it's okay. It's my own fault for taking this job in the first place. And besides, I want to find out what's going on here just as much as you do.”

Athena smiled. “Thanks, Apollo.”

There were faint sounds of pots and pans clattering. Apollo looked over to the right door. “Bird's in the kitchen,” he remarked. “Let's check the power maybe?”

“57%,” Athena stated with a frown. “And it looks like it's about 2 AM.”

Apollo looked at the left door uneasily. “What about Pirate Cove?”

“Let's check.” Athena flicked over to 1C and was shocked at what she saw. The fox animatronic that they had seen the night before was no longer behind the curtain. Rather, it was standing menacingly in front of it, glowing eyes and sharp hook incredibly visible in the dim light of the dining room. “Apollo...”

He peeked over her shoulder and was similarly shocked. “W-what is it doing?”

Shaking a bit, Athena flicked her eyes over to the left door. “I-It's just standing there. But it looks like it's gonna come after us any second. W-What do you think, Apollo? Left door or right door?”

Looking over the layout given on the tablet, Apollo thought for a bit. “I'm thinking left. Look,” he pointed to Cam 1C, “it's a straight shot down the hall to us. I think they have sensors that tell them where things are...”

The clattering in the kitchen stopped; a few moments later, the lawyers could hear thumping coming down the right-side hallway.

Athena hit the light button and then the door button; she didn't have to look for long to tell that the bird was there, waiting for them. Honestly, she had no idea which one was scarier to her; Bonnie could pretty much teleport, but the bird never seemed to want to leave when it got there.

The power situation was beginning to worry them a bit. It was just under 47% when the hour ticked over to 3 AM.

“Hey Apollo...” Athena quipped up after a particularly close encounter with Bonnie had ended an the left door had been reopened.

Apollo looked over from his position at the left window, where he had been watching Bonnie's shadow disappear back down the hall. “Hm?”

“What should we do if we run out of power?” she asked.

That was something that Apollo really, _really_ didn't want to think about. He may not have had super emotional detection like Athena did, but even he could sense the unease in the phone guy's voice when he had talked about Freddy and the darkness.

However, unpleasant as it was, their current power situation did require them to think about what to do in a potential outage. “Do you think those things can bend down?” he finally said after a moment of thought.

“I... hadn't really thought about that. They look all topheavy with those big heads, like they'd fall over if they tried to bend down,” Athena theorized. “Are you saying we should crawl our way to safety?”

“That...” Apollo said, accepting that as a valid point as well. “Or... we hide. Under the desk. With the chair in front of us maybe so there's an obstacle between us and them. Who knows? It might buy us time.”

Athena frowned. “Okay... I hope it doesn't get to that point, but we'll try that.” A few more moments of tense silence, then Athena spoke up again. “Do you really think it could be ghosts?”

Apollo shrugged. “No clue. But it definitely seems possible. Ever since I met Mr. Wright, I've learned to stop questioning anything.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Athena said with a small smile. “Hey, check on Pirate Cove.”

What Apollo saw when he brought up Pirate Cove on Cam 1C made his blood run cold.

He saw nothing.

There were heavy footsteps coming down the left hall, and fast.

“Door!” Apollo yelled, putting his Chords of Steel to good use. Athena zipped over to the left door and slammed her hand on the button. As the steel door closed, the lawyers could see a pair of metal feet arrive at the office.

Whatever was outside the door (the fox, Apollo figured) began banging on it loudly. Apollo yelped and jumped back, dropping the tablet in the process (which thankfully fell on the chair unharmed). Athena screamed as well, and picked up the golf club from the back table where she had left it. She brandished it in front of her defensively and waved for Apollo to stand behind her.

Logically, she knew that the golf club would probably do even less good against the fox than Apollo's bat had done against Bonnie, but something was better than nothing. Athena would rather face down an enemy than go down without a fight. The banging continued; did the fox have the power to break down the door?

Trembling, the two lawyers stood there, waiting for the fox to destroy the door and come for them. After what felt like agonizingly long, though realistically was no longer than a few seconds, the banging stopped and the footsteps retreated down the hall.

They stared at the door for a few more seconds. Nothing. Athena relaxed slightly and went to put the golf club back on the table, though not without checking the right side for the bird first. Even though they had been incredibly distracted by the fox, the bird had decided to be merciful, apparently; faintly, they could hear it rattling in the kitchen.

Apollo slumped down in the single chair, feeling his legs go weak; that had been two near-death experiences in one night, and still he needed compelled to find out what was going on with these animatronics. He opened up the camera feed to Pirate Cove and was strangely relieved to see the fox peeking out of its curtain at them.

“C-Check the left for Bonnie,” Apollo said, trying to get his heart rate to resume to something near normal. Nodding, Athena checked the left light; finding it clear, she opened the door.

“That was terrifying,” Athena commented, leaning against the back wall with a sigh. “Who knew they could go that fast?”

Scowling, Apollo turned off the tablet and handed it to Athena. “A creepy pizzeria, a limited power supply, and evil robots that can run... this job just keeps getting better...” he muttered, slumping over in the uncomfortable chair.

Athena frowned. “I wonder what would happen if there were no guards here. I'm pretty sure anything that tried to break in would be fought off by the animatronics.”

“You've got a point there. These things are pretty much their own security system,” Apollo replied. Then, a horrifying thought came to him. “Athena...”

“Huh?”

Apollo stared down at his lap, trying to process what just went through his head. “W-what if they didn't hire us to keep burglars out? What if we're here to keep those things... in?”

“Wh-what?” was all Athena could manage in terms of a reply.

“Think about it. They know we're here; why else would the fox bang on the door like that? And if we weren't here, then what would stop them from going out onto the street and attacking people?” Apollo mused.

Before replying, Athena quickly tapped both lights; nothing. “Aren't the doors to this place locked at night?”

“Yeah, but it took that heavy steel door to keep that fox out. For all we know, the average door might not hold them.”

Athena grimaced as she thought of the horror the animatronics would bring onto the city if they escaped. From what the phone guy had told them, death by animatronic costume was incredibly painful. “Yikes... Why don't they just fix the animatronics?”

“I don't know,” Apollo admitted, shrugging. “Maybe they can't be fixed; maybe they're too dangerous to try and fix or something. But I guess that makes us... live bait.”

“Nice to know...” Athena muttered, clearly delighted at the prospect.

Sighing, Athena leaned back against the wall once again. “What did we get ourselves into, Apollo?”

“Hey, you're the one who insisted on coming back,” Apollo argued.

“Yeah, and I still want to get to the bottom of this, evil animatronic robot things or no evil animatronic robot things!” Athena said with a grin, though Widget hadn't changed from purple all night. “Hey, let's do a power check.”

Apollo nodded and turned on the tablet. “Um... I think something happened?”

Athena looked over Apollo's shoulder at the tablet. “Huh?”

“I could have sworn the power was much higher before the fox came over here,” Apollo said, pointing to the power indicator, which now read 28%. The time in the upper right corner said 4 AM. Two hours to go...

“Don't tell me that thing steals power too...” Athena said shakily. “Would banging on the door like that really affect power usage?”

“Well, I'm no technology expert, but...” Apollo got up and examined the left door. “These doors clearly use power to keep them closed. Any attempt to force the door open would require more power to keep the door shut.”

Nodding, Athena took the tablet from him and shut the power off. “Let's try and save some power, yeah? I don't really want to be on the receiving end from a bear-hug from Freddy...”

Apollo went slightly pale at the thought. “Yeah, no kidding...”

Time ticked by agonizingly slow for the two, all while the power trickled down alarmingly fast.

Athena had taken to pacing the tiny office, occasionally tapping a light as often as she felt she could on this limited power supply. “What the heck kind of system is this, anyway?!” she asked out loud, Widget briefly flashing red before going back to purple, where it had been all night. “Do they really expect us to last all night on this tiny amount of power?”

“Well, they _are_ closing down soon...” Apollo offered, though honestly he felt just as confused about the whole thing as she was. He checked his phone; 5:15 AM. A quick look at the tablet revealed two things: first, that the fox was still in Pirate Cove, and second, that they only had 9% of power left.

If they made it tonight, it was going to be close. Apollo had absolutely no clue how they were supposed to get through later nights if this was supposedly still 'easy mode', as the phone guy had implied. But he couldn't back down if it turned out that their theory of agonized child spirits was true; having grown up in an orphanage, Apollo had seen the despair of many children firsthand.

“What do you think is going to happen to the animatronics once this place shuts down?” Athena asked, beginning to bat at her moon rock earring in order to try and calm herself down.

Apollo sighed. “I have no clue. Maybe they'll be dismantled.”

“But what about the kids? What will happen to their ghosts?!” Athena wondered sadly, stopping for a second.

“I don't know...” Apollo answered quietly, shaking his head. “We don't even know if it _is_ ghosts yet, anyway.”

Athena started up her pacing again. “What other explanation is there, Apollo? Robots like these don't just get up and walk around. I grew up around robots way more advanced than these and even then they still were controlled to a certain point. There's something controlling them, and while I've seen a lot of messed-up stuff since I joined up with Mr. Wright, I don't think someone could be cruel enough to build a place like this just to kill night guards.”

“None of these situations are good, but... I hope you're right about that last one,” Apollo said. “But we've got another problem on our hands right now.”

“Huh?”

He pulled up the tablet and showed the power indicator to Athena. “9% power left with 45 minutes to go.”

“Oh... That's bad. Really bad.”

Apollo gulped. “We have to make it last, Athena. Or else we're toast. So let's try and concentrate.”

“Yeah.”

For all their efforts, they actually did alright in trying to conserve power. But there just wasn't enough to get them through to 6 AM. At 5:54 AM, the power indicator ticked over to 0%.

“Under the desk,” Apollo said quickly. Thankfully, they were both rather short, so it wasn't too bad, but it was still a tight fit. Athena thought she could feel something crawling on her but decided not to think about it. A few spiders were better than being dead.

Right as Apollo put the chair in place to act as a barrier, the lights went out. The comforting buzzing sound that had acted as white noise the whole night was no more. The two lawyers were left with only the sound of their own breathing... and footsteps. Footsteps, Apollo realized with horror, that were coming steadily closer to their office.

Something was coming down the left hall, and thanks to the phone guy's words, Apollo had a hunch what that 'something' was. He could feel Athena trembling next to him, and he was pretty sure he was trembling himself. He pulled the girl a little closer, trying to make them as small as possible; maybe the animatronics wouldn't be able to get to them under the table.

A few moments passed in terrifying silence. They didn't know if the animatronics had noise detectors or not, but they were not about to test their luck, not when their lives were on the line.

In the darkness, Apollo thought he could make out a shape slowly coming into the office; that had to be one of the animatronics.

5:58 AM. They could do it; they could make it.

But Apollo's heart nearly stopped from fear at what he saw next. From the little gasp Athena made and the way she tucked her head into his shoulder, he could only assume that the girl was just as terrifed.

A little chime began to play, but it wasn't the calming Westminster chime announcing that they'd made it through the night. No, this was a different chime entirely, and it was coming from the animatronic in front of them.

Though the legs of the chair, Apollo could see the face of Freddy Fazbear lighting up as it played a music box chime; he vaguely felt like he'd heard the tune before, but this was hardly the time to think about that. This was it. This was the end. At twenty four years of age, Apollo was going to die, and he was going to die to a damn robot bear. He thought about texting Mr. Wright, telling him goodbye, but he felt that it was already far too late for goodbyes.

The chime stopped, and they were left in even more darkness than before. Apollo turned his head away, burying it in Athena's shoulder, relying on the childish belief that it could not see him if he could not see it. The footsteps got even closer, and the chair started to move...

Another chime played, this one far more comforting than the first. The lights came on, and the chair stopped moving.

They had made it; they were alive. Relief flooded through Apollo, and as he opened his eyes he was treated to a flash of green from Widget, who had been rather dim up until now.

“ _We're not dead!_ ” the little machine chirped. Athena moved a hand to it to quiet it, but the effort was half-hearted.

Apollo chanced a look out from under the desk now that they were supposedly safe. Freddy Fazbear, now completely stationary, had its robotic hands on the back of the chair; a few more moments and it could have been certain doom for the lawyers.

“Let's get out of here,” Athena whispered, though there was probably no need to.

Nodding, Apollo took the lead. He slipped under the legs of the chair, for once being thankful that he was so vertically challenged; someone taller like Mr. Wright or Prosecutor Gavin probably wouldn't have been able to fit under there.

They crawled out of the left door, managing to avoid Freddy's attention. As they stood up, Apollo's knee hit something metal, and he winced.

Looking down, he saw it that was the baseball bat he had borrowed from Trucy... but it was heavily crumpled now, dents in the metal almost shaped like a handprint. He picked it up to take with him; some kid during the day ( _why_ did people bring their kids here?!) might find it and hurt themselves with it. He felt his blood run cold when he looked at just how mangled the bat was; it was barely even the same tool.

He owed Trucy a new baseball bat.

They made their way down the hallway, taking a moment to glance at the colorful drawings on the walls.

“These are... actually pretty creepy,” Athena remarked, pointing to one that looked like a child being terrorized by an eyeless Bonnie.

“I'm so glad I never went here as a kid,” Apollo said. “Trucy told me something pretty creepy about the fox over in Pirate Cove, and now I have to wonder how in the world this place stayed in business as long as it did.”

Athena raised an eyebrow. “Huh? What happened?”

“She went behind the curtain when she was a kid and saw it move,” Apollo explained.

“Wait, you mean that thing moves during the day too?!” Athena asked, horrified

Apollo hadn't thought of that. “W-Well, considering no one except night guards have been threatened by it since they stuck it back there, I think it's safe to say that it doesn't like to come out from behind there during the day.”

“I hope you're right about that one, Apollo,” Athena said uneasily, giving the purple curtain nervous glances as they passed by it and into the dining room. The fox had retreated back into its sanctuary for now.

Bonnie was nowhere in sight, but the bird was in the middle of the room. As the two lawyers passed it, it turned its head to look at them.

“Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life! I'm Chica! Let's eat!” it creaked at them. Apollo yelped and jumped back a pace, brandishing the ruined bat defensively. After he saw that the bird – Chica, apparently – made no move towards him, he relaxed slightly.

Just like Bonnie, Chica's voice box seemed worn out, as its voice skipped in places and drastically changed in pitch in others. Overall, Apollo and Athena found it very unsettling.

The back door opened, and the two lawyers were actually delighted to see Oldbag enter. As crabby as she seemed to be, at least she wasn't a murderous animatronic, Apollo thought.

Oldbag, however, did not seem to share the joy. She narrowed her eyes at them. “Funny. I figured you two whippersnappers would be long gone by now. Almost everyone flakes out during the first few nights. Kids these days...”

“Good morning, Ms. Oldbag,” Athena greeted politely despite the woman's bad attitude.

“So where have you two moved the animatronics to now?” she asked, ignoring Athena's greeting and walking past them into the dining room.

Apollo frowned. If they wanted to get any useful information out of her, they had to be polite... and incredibly patient. “Well, we didn't move them, ma'am, but... Freddy is in the office, I don't know where Bonnie went, Chica's right here, and the fox is behind its curtain.”

“Of course Foxy's behind the curtain! He's been out of order for forty years!” Oldbag said, moving over to Chica and pressing a few buttons hidden on its back. Chica wordlessly walked back to the stage and assumed its daytime position.

Apparently the animatronics had command buttons hidden somewhere. Apollo wondered if they would work during free-roaming mode. Probably not; that'd just be too easy. “Erm, how long have you worked here, Ms. Oldbag?”

“Don't you two kids have somewhere to be?” she asked back sharply.

“Not... Not really, ma'am,” Athena answered. Widget registered frustration; Athena was getting a little tired of this rude old lady, but they finally seemed to be getting somewhere with her.

After leading Bonnie out from backstage, Oldbag finally answered their question. “Three years. This has been one of my longest stints. I've worked security all over this town but I always seem to get caught up in other peoples' problems. Hmph... Why do you whippersnappers care, anyway? I'm not your grandma; I'm not here to tell you stories.”

“And you haven't seen a single strange thing here?” Apollo questioned.

Oldbag glared at them. “No. Except all the night guards like you. Always so scared when I come in in the morning, crying about 'evil chickens' this and 'killer bunnies' that. A whole bunch of hooey if you ask me,” she said. “Now get out so I can do my job.”

They quickly did as they were asked, not wanting to face her for another second. As nice as it was to see a non-hostile face, (crabby as she was) there was only so much they could take of the misanthropic daytime guard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [He's just STANDING there! Menacingly!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPmzRa-sXQs)   
> 


	5. Day Three

As they left the building, Apollo's cell phone rang. A glance at the caller ID told him that it was Trucy. What was she doing up so- Oh, right; Kurain.

He answered the phone. “Hey Trucy,” he said as he and Athena started out for the bus stop.

“ _Polly!_ ” Trucy exclaimed. “ _You're okay!_ ” Apollo could hear Trucy faintly telling someone, probably Mr. Wright, that everything was fine.

Apollo chuckled, putting the phone on speaker so Athena could hear as well. “I guess you can say I'm okay. We made it through the night at least. I figured you'd be sleeping on the train.”

Trucy sighed. “ _Well, I was, but... I woke up with this really bad feeling like fifteen minutes ago, and I wanted to call and make sure you and Athena were doing all right. Daddy said that I should wait until you guys were off shift though, and so I did. I'm so happy you're okay!_ ”

“I uh... I do owe you a new bat, though. Sorry...” Apollo said, grinning sheepishly. How he could even be grinning and chuckling over his near demise was way beyond him, but he decided it was better than scaring Trucy with details.

“ _Oh, that's okay! I can use something else for that act for right now! Um..._ ” she pulled the phone away, presumably to ask a question. “ _We'll be back in about an hour. Auntie Maya and Pearly are coming to visit too!_ ”

Both Feys were coming down; either there wasn't much to be done over at Kurain, or this was a situation that called for both of them. Admittedly, Apollo didn't know much about Kurain or spirit mediums, but he knew that one of them usually stayed there to take care of business while the other visited. Mr. Wright had told them that Maya had named Pearl her heir in order to end the branch family conflict, whatever that meant.

“ _Oh, Daddy wants to talk to you. Here,_ ” Trucy said, and there were shuffling noises as her phone was handed off.

“ _Hey kids,_ ” Phoenix greeted. “ _You two still kicking?_ ”

Apollo chose to ignore the 'kid' comment. “Somehow,” he answered. “Not exactly up there on my list of 'Top Ten Nights of my Life', though.”

“ _ It was awful! _ ” Widget added in.

“ _I can imagine. Listen, Maya wants to come along with you tonight and assess the situation. Is that okay?_ ” Phoenix asked.

Athena nodded. “Three heads are better than two,” she told Apollo.

“ _Good,_ ” Phoenix said, apparently able to hear Athena as well. “ _You two can come into the office and sleep on the floor again if you want. We'll be home in an hour and we'll be in a bit early. See you then?_ ”

“Yeah,” Athena affirmed.

Apollo turned the phone off speaker and put it back to his ear. “Sounds good, Mr. Wright. We'll see you there.”

“ _Don't push yourselves,_ ” Phoenix said seriously. The phone clicked and Apollo put it back in his pocket.

The two walked in silence for a bit before reaching the bus stop.

“We're... We're going back in there, aren't we?” Apollo said quietly.

“Yep,” Athena answered, face set in determination.

“This is a terrible idea.”

“Yep.”

The bus came as they neared the stop, and they spent the rest of the way over to the Wright Anything Agency in silence. When they arrived, they turned every single light in the office on before setting out the cots again. Neither of them wanted to admit that the fact that they were sleeping over at the office with the lights on was because the idea of them going home and sleeping alone in the dark was terrifying.

“Here's for another two hours of sleep,” Apollo said.

“Urgh,” Athena replied, burying her face into her pillow. “Maybe Mr. Wright will let us take the day off again.”

Apollo stretched out and tried to make himself comfortable. “I doubt it. He's got the Feys over this time; there's no way this place is going to be quiet.”

“Pearly is pretty quiet,” Athena remarked.

“Maya isn't.”

Athena nodded. “Point taken. Less talk, more sleep.”

Right now, he definitely agreed. Like the day before, now that the adrenaline of a near-death experience had worn off, Apollo was left feeling incredibly tired. He curled up on his cot as best he could and tried his best to sleep.

Of course, all efforts to sleep for a  _ long _ time were defeated when, at 9 AM, the door to the Wright Anything Agency swung open, allowing four more people to enter.

“Rise and shine, kiddos,” Phoenix said, chuckling as a very sleepy Athena and a very annoyed Apollo sat up and looked at them.

“Polly!” Trucy exclaimed, running over and hugging him tightly. She then released Apollo and gave Athena a big hug as well. “I'm so glad you two are okay.”

Apollo sighed. “I'm glad to  _ be _ okay. We cut it pretty close there.” He handed the mangled bat, which was sitting next to the cot, back to Trucy. “It got a little... dented.”

Trucy gasped. “One of the robots did this?!” she exclaimed.

“Y-yeah. I don't mean to scare you. Sorry,” Apollo said. Trucy put the bat into whatever strange storage device she used for her 'magic panties'.

“Hey there, Apollo,” Maya, who had been standing near the doorway until now, greeted.

Nodding, Apollo pulled himself up off the cot and went over to Maya. “Hey. Good to see you again. Mr. Wright said you wanted to come along with us?”

Maya sat down on the sofa, and gestured for Apollo to sit opposite her. Everyone else milled over there as well. “Yeah. Nick told me you thought it was ghosts? If anyone could confirm that, it'd be a spirit medium.”

“I-I always did feel like something was wrong with that place,” Pearl, who had been quiet up until now, muttered.

“Me too, Pearly. I just kinda brushed it off because I liked the pizza too much, though,” Maya admitted, giggling a bit.

Phoenix made a face. “I still don't understand how you liked that stuff, Maya. It was cardboard.”

“Hey! Even mediocre pizza is good pizza!”

“That stuff isn't even mediocre...” Phoenix muttered. “Anyway! I'm glad to see you two are safe. What exactly happened out there?”

Athena frowned. “We ran out of power ten minutes before the shift ended... Turns out the leader of the animatronics actually comes off the stage when the lights go out.”

“Yeah, and it looked like he meant business,” Apollo continued. “We crawled under the desk and that bought us enough time for the robots to go into their daytime mode thing.”

“And then we saw the crabby daytime guard as we left. Apparently nothing unusual happens during the day,” Athena finished.

Maya nodded. “Yeah, nothing happened whenever Nick and I went there with Trucy and Pearly. Was the guard able to tell you anything useful?”

Apollo scowled. “Not really. She was too busy complaining about the lack of work ethic in the young. Oh, and calling us 'whippersnappers'. Can't forget about that.”

Phoenix and Maya exchanged a knowing look.

“Anyway,” Maya said, clearing her throat. “Nick showed me the articles you two read and I have to agree with you. There is definitely some spirit activity going down in there. That's where I come in.”

“Mystic Maya, are you sure about this?” Pearl asked uneasily.

Maya patted Pearl on the head gently. “Yes, Pearly. As long as we're careful we'll be fine. You and Nick and Trucy can hold down the fort here while I go with Apollo and Athena and check everything out.”

“O-Okay...”

“Uh... Just so you know, this is potentially really dangerous...” Apollo said. “Pearl has a point.”

Athena chimed in. “Apollo and I have already decided that this is a really stupid idea, but we want to know the truth about this place.”

“So do I. I want to know what kind of spirits have been lingering around there. And what better way to contact spirits than through a spirit medium?” Maya offered, smiling softly. “Besides, I've been through way worse in my time with Nick than a bunch of angry robots. Did I ever tell you about the time I got kidnapped?”

“N-No, you didn't,” Apollo answered, a little surprised.

Maya grinned. “That's a story for another day. But I promise you it's interesting.”

Apollo was now contemplating his life expectancy as part of the Wright Anything Agency.

“Here, you might want something to protect yourself with,” Trucy said suddenly, handing Maya a hockey stick. “I uh... I don't think it'll do you a lot of good, but something is better than nothing!”

“I think with three of us there it'll be a little easier. Two of us can watch the doors and the other can watch the cameras,” Athena mused. “Thank you for this, Maya.”

“No problem!” Maya said happily. “Any friend of Nick's is a friend of mine. Now who's up for breakfast?”

Phoenix sighed. “Where were you thinking of?” he asked, accepting his fate and mourning for his wallet.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is about the time they start seeing the animatronics as more human. Also, writing Pearl is hard.


	6. Night Three (Part One)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a brief graphic description of blood and slight gore in Apollo's nightmare.

After a lively brunch with Mr. Wright and the Fey girls (Trucy had to go to school, much to her chagrin), Apollo found himself back at his apartment, alone. He laid down on his bed to hopefully catch a few hours of sleep before he risked his neck again.

Of course, he got nothing but nightmares in return. He dreamed of Trucy, Athena, and Mr. Wright being surrounded on all sides by animatronics. There were flickers of light and bloodcurdling screams and then everyone was gone.

Apollo fumbled through the darkness before coming to a door. Walking through the door, he found himself alone in the dining room of Freddy Fazbear's. Standing on the stage were the three main animatronics, but they were turned away from him.

Suddenly, the three animatronics turned around to face him. Their faces were drenched in blood, and each one of them had eyes that looked creepily human... and familiar. Apollo felt his legs give out as the animatronics stepped off the stage towards him. He tried to scoot back but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get himself to move. His back hit a wall; nowhere to go.

“What's wrong, Polly?” Chica rasped, voice coming out like Trucy's. “We only want to play with you...”

“Yeah!” Bonnie exclaimed in Athena's voice. “It'll only hurt for a second!”

Freddy stepped forward, holding up a off-colored version of his own suit. “We even got you a suit!” he said, sounding like Mr. Wright.

“N-no!” Apollo tried to yell, but he could barely choke out more than a squeak.

The animatronics were right on top of him when a loud tune jolted him out of his slumber.

His phone was ringing. Right... his phone, which was in his room with the rest of him. He was not in some dark scary place, and not over at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. His room. It was just a dream; a really terrifying, vivid dream, but a dream nonetheless.

He glanced at the caller ID; it was Athena. A glance at the alarm clock on his bedside table told him that it was a little before 11.

"Hmm?” Apollo answered, trying and failing to hold back a yawn. That had _not_ been restful sleep.

Athena giggled on the other end. “ _Hey there, sleepyhead. Maya and I are outside. Get your butt down here, stat!_ ”

“Gotcha. Be right there,” he said, hanging up. He grabbed his keys and his wallet before going to take a quick look at himself in the bathroom mirror. He had barely had the energy to shower and change into clean clothes before he had fallen asleep on his bed. No time to do his hair... he supposed he would have to make do without his signature two spikes... for tonight, at least.

Tugging on a winter jacket, he trudged down the stairs and outside to meet Maya and Athena, who were similarly bundled up.

“No time for spikes?” Athena questioned, grinning.

Apollo rolled his eyes. “Oh shush, not like we're going into court anyway...” Honestly, Apollo wondered if they were ever going into court again, or if they would meet their certain doom at the hands of the animatronics. Sometimes he really hated needing to know the truth behind something.

“Here,” Maya said, handing him the hockey stick that Trucy had given her earlier.

“Thanks,” Apollo replied, trying to decide the best way to wield it. Athena still had the golf club with her, and Maya was unarmed.

A gust of wind blew through the air; all three of them shivered and pulled their coats closer. “Don't you want to hold something too, Maya?” Athena asked.

Maya shook her head. “No. I'll probably be meditating most of the time anyway. It makes it easier to sense any nearby spirits.”

“So uh...” Apollo began. “The spirit channeling thing. How does it work?”

They arrived at the bus stop. “Basically, the women in my family are born with a special ability. They can invite the spirits of the dead into their bodies and allow others to communicate with them,” Maya explained.

“So, you're like a ghost whisperer or something?” Athena asked curiously.

“I guess you could say that,” Maya answered with a giggle. “But I don't ever do any of the talking. The spirits inhabit my body and do the talking for me. I'm just the vessel.”

Apollo raised an eyebrow. “So they can... move around as you? Isn't that dangerous?”

“Depends on the spirit. But yeah... it's risky. One time, Nick had to defend me in court because it looked like an angry spirit killed a guy while inhabiting my body. But then it turned out that it was a different person entirely, and I hadn't even been channeling anyone at the time... Nick can probably tell you more than I can about that one.”

“Wow... Sounds pretty crazy,” Athena remarked. “Ghosts, orcas, robots... what _hasn't_ Mr. Wright come across in court?”

Maya thought for a second. “A reliable witness,” she finally answered, grinning. Apollo and Athena laughed at that, and it was the stress relief they direly needed before diving headfirst into danger.

The bus came and took them to their destination. For Apollo, time seemed to tick by all too fast. His phone read 11:30 when they arrived at Freddy Fazbear's.

“Well... here goes nothing...” Apollo said, unlocking the back door. “You wanna make a run for it again, Athena?”

Athena shook her head. “Let's let Maya get used to this place; we know they won't move until midnight on the dot.”

As soon as Maya entered, she winced, putting a hand up to her head. “Geez... Yep. There's some really strong spirits in here. I wonder why I never noticed this when I was here before.”

“Maybe they're stronger at night?” Athena offered.

Maya shrugged. “Makes sense,” she answered, looking around the dining room. “And I thought this place was creepy enough during the day... Remind me again why Trucy and Pearly liked this place so much?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Apollo said. “Okay, let me run down what we've got so far before we head on into the office.”

“Okay, shoot,” Maya answered, nodding.

Apollo pointed at Bonnie. “That rabbit there is named Bonnie. He – I think it's a he, anyway, it's got a bowtie – is usually the one who moves around the most from what I've seen. We've got two hallways leading to the security office, and two doors. Bonnie likes the left door from what I've seen.”

“Bonnie, left door,” Maya repeated. “Got it.”

“That's... Chica, I think?” Apollo continued, pointing at the bird in question. “She – I'm pretty sure 'chica' is Spanish for 'girl' or something – likes to play around with the pots and pans in the kitchen. When she comes to hassle us it's on the right side.”

Suddenly, Apollo realized how silly he sounded, calling them by names. But oddly enough, it was a little less frightening that way. Knowing that the scary robots coming after  them had names and were not just nameless entities made things seem a little more grounded to him.

He pointed to Freddy. “That's Freddy Fazbear. He doesn't move from the stage unless the power goes out. I don't think we have to worry about him.”

“Okay, three robots,” Maya said.

“Four,” Athena corrected, pointing over to Pirate Cove. “There's another one that hides back here. His name is Foxy and from what we've been told, he doesn't like cameras.”

Maya eyed the curtain curiously. “So _that's_ what's behind there. I always wondered...”

A quick glance at Apollo's phone told him that it was 11:50. “Maybe we should head over to the office?” he asked. “I really don't like standing around here with those things staring at us.”

Athena nodded. “Y-yeah. Better safe than sorry...”

The three of them quickly made their way down the hallway and into the small office. It was rather cramped with the three of them, even worse than it had been with two, but they could all still fit inside.

“Ew,” Maya remarked. “This place is all dusty.”

“Yeah, no kidding...” Athena said.

Maya took the lone chair in the center of the room. “And how much did you say they were paying you, Apollo?” she asked.

Apollo made a face. “$120 a week.”

“Ouch,” Maya said, wincing. “Oh, uh, do you mind if I take the chair? I can concentrate better on meditating if I'm sitting on a flat surface.”

Athena shook her head. “Not a problem, Maya. Thanks for agreeing to come out here with us. I know it's wicked dangerous, so...”

“Pssh. I went through _way_ worse back when I was Nick's assistant. Sure beats being kidnapped and held captive in a psychopathic murderer's house!” Maya exclaimed, grinning. Suddenly, Apollo realized why it was that Mr. Wright and Maya got along so well; they were both somehow incredibly unlucky and simultaneously invincible.

The phone rang, right on schedule. Apollo and Athena expected it, but Maya jumped a bit.

“Apparently it's the guard who was here before us, leaving messages,” Athena explained, opening up Widget's interface to analyze the incoming message.

After ringing a few times, the phone went over to the answering machine, as usual. “ _ Hello, hello? Hey you're doing great! Most people don’t last this long. I mean, you know, they usually move on to other things by now. _ ”

“Like the afterlife...” Apollo muttered.

“ _I'm not implying that they died._ _ Th-th-that’s not what I meant. Uh, anyway I better not take up too much of your time. Things start getting real tonight. _ ”

Apollo gulped. What did the phone guy mean by 'real'? Like the other two nights hadn't been terrifying enough?

“ _Uh... Hey, listen, I had an idea: if you happen to get caught and want to avoid getting stuffed into a Freddy suit, uhh, try playing dead! You know, go limp. Then there's a chance that, uh, maybe they’ll think that you're an empty costume instead._ ”

Well, Apollo didn't really see how lying defenseless on the floor provided any more protection than cowering under the desk, but he supposed he would have to give it a try if (when) they ran out of power again.

“ _Then again if they think you're an empty costume, they might try to... stuff a metal skeleton into you. I wonder how that would work. Yeah, never mind, scratch that. It's best just not to get caught._ ”

Yep. That had definitely been a thing the phone guy had said, Apollo thought. He wondered which was worse: being treated like an endoskeleton, or being treated like an empty costume. After careful consideration he decided that both would really, really suck and he left it at that.

“ _Um... Ok, I'll leave you to it. See you on the flip side._ ”

A click, and nothing but white noise.

Maya stared at the phone. “That... That was informative,” she said quietly.

“Would you believe that that's actually _less_ terrifying than some of the stuff he's told us on earlier nights?” Apollo asked.

A pause. Then... “Yes, actually. I would.”

Thumps to the left. Apollo whirled around and hit the left door. Yep, Bonnie. Maya yelped and nearly fell off her chair in surprise, but in contrast, Athena only jumped a bit.

Apollo sighed and closed the door in Bonnie's face. “Guess they mean business tonight. It's not even ten after midnight...”

Thankfully, Bonnie only stayed for about half a minute, and Apollo was clear to open the door after confirming that the rabbit had gone off to play in the supply closet.

From the right side, they could hear the familiar (and strangely comforting) sound of pots and pans rattling.

“That'd be Chica,” Athena explained. “She likes to play in the kitchen.”

The nonchalance with which he and Athena were able to explain these things to Maya surprised Apollo. Was he scared? Hell yes he was. He knew that one wrong move meant that he'd be shoved inside a Freddy Fazbear suit. But somehow having a third person there was even more calming than having a second. It probably helped that Maya had the ability to communicate with ghosts, though. It felt more like an even playing field rather than just two lawyers cowering in an office.

Maya got as comfortable as she could on the chair. “All right, I'm going to try and see if I can reach out to anything lingering around here. I'm... probably not going to channel anything tonight, just to be safe, but we can do a head count.”

Athena nodded. “Alright. Tell us if you find anything out.”

“Yeah. That's my plan,” Maya said. Then she slipped into a look of deep concentration, and said no more.

Apollo looked over at Athena. “I guess it's just us again,” he said, sighing.

“Uh-huh,” Athena said, picking up the tablet. “Let's check on Foxy.”

A quick check of Pirate Cove revealed that Foxy was (thankfully) still behind the curtain, nowhere to be seen.

The night passed by slowly. About an hour after they started, Foxy started looking out of the curtain, but aside from a few visits by Bonnie and Chica, nothing else happened. Maya came out of meditation every now and then to tell them what she was sensing; she could feel the presence of five spirits lingering around the pizzeria, she said. Tomorrow, she planned to channel one to see what information they could get.

“Don't they take over your body, though?” Apollo asked. It was almost 2 AM and they were actually doing alright for power for once – 68%.

Maya nodded. “Yeah, but uh... If you guys tie me to the chair then it shouldn't be a problem. And if it really gets bad, you can uh... knock me out and the spirit will leave. But be careful! Don't hurt me too badly if you have to do that!”

“Uh... yeah,” Athena said, not too keen on the idea of knocking anyone out, possessed or not.

Apollo opened his mouth to contribute to the conversation, but before he could say anything, a horrifying sound cut through the air.

It was a deep, slow laugh.

“What was that?!” Apollo exclaimed. “Tablet. Where's the tablet?”

Athena handed it to him. “Right here.”

He took the tablet from her and started flicking through the cameras. When he got to the one for the stage, his blood ran cold.

All of the animatronics were missing.

“Freddy's gone,” Apollo said weakly, feeling like his stomach had just dropped out from under him.

Athena snatched the tablet from his hands. “Please tell me you're joking.” She stared blankly at the display. “You're not joking.”

“Sadly, no.”

Maya, who had gone back to meditating, cracked one eye open. “Didn't you say Freddy didn't move unless the power went out?” she asked, momentarily giving up on trying to sense anything and instead stretching out her legs.

Apollo ran his hands through his hair, on the verge of panicking. “That's what we thought! The past two nights he's just sat there for six hours straight, staring at us!”

“Okay, let's not panic here,” Athena said, though Widget showed that she was anything but calm. “Let's try and find him.”

The first and most obvious place to look was right outside the doors. A quick check of both lights revealed no Freddy Fazbear, but their efforts did succeed in stopping Chica, who had sneaked up on the right in their moment of panic.

“Hallways,” Apollo hissed urgently. “Check the hallways!”

Athena waved a hand in Apollo's general direction to get him to shut up. “I know, Apollo!” She quickly pulled up Cameras 4A and 4B; aside from Chica on her way back to the dining room, nothing. “Open the right side door.”

Apollo did so as Athena checked the other cameras. Restrooms, nothing. Pirate Cove, Foxy still peeking out. Supply closet, Bonnie. It was only when she got to 2A and 2B, the West Hall, that she noticed anything different.

It wasn't a largely noticeable difference, but the poster in the corner of 2A's feed was different. Where there usually was an creepily cheerful poster of Freddy Fazbear, there was... a picture of a golden face? Athena couldn't quite make it out due to the grainy quality of the camera feed.

A higher pitched giggle made Athena jump and lower the tablet.

Peeking in through the door was a Freddy Fazbear suit... but it wasn't the right color. It looked worn-out and yellowed from years of disuse, and the way it held itself suggested that whatever was inside it wasn't very alive. It wasn't doing anything but staring at them, but its sudden appearance was enough to make everyone in the office scream in terror. Athena held the tablet in front of herself, momentarily reverting to the belief that if she could not see it, it could not see her.

Then, as suddenly as the twisted incarnation of Freddy had appeared, it disappeared.

Maya, who had fallen off the chair in her terror, looked up at the two lawyers. “D-Did you guys see that too?”

Apollo and Athena could only nod numbly.

“That... That wasn't in the job description,” Apollo finally said after he took a moment to calm down.

“What _was_ that thing?!” Athena asked out loud, knowing her two companions knew just as much as she did. She slumped against the back wall and took deep breaths to calm herself.

Clambering back onto the chair, Maya thought for a second. “That wasn't the Freddy Fazbear you were looking for, right? It didn't look like the one we saw on the stage.”

“No, that was... something else entirely,” Apollo answered, taking the tablet from Athena and switching the camera feed back on. “I think I found the real Freddy.”

Athena looked over Apollo's shoulder. “Huh? In the dining room? I don't see anything.”

“Look right there,” Apollo said, pointing to a space near the back that was shrouded in darkness. “I think you can see his eyes.”

“Oh... Yeah. I kinda see what you mean. What's he doing off the stage?” Athena wondered.

Maya stood on her tiptoes and looked over Apollo's other shoulder. “Maybe he overheard you telling me that he wasn't anything to worry about and got mad.”

Apollo shot Maya a confused look. “That's ridiculous... and probably right. Me and my big mouth...” he said, sighing. He flopped into the chair. “This is it. We're dead. And that bear is gonna be what kills us.”

“Don't say that, Apollo! Isn't it always you who's screaming about being fine?” Athena said, tugging at his arm to get him to stand up again.

Despite the terrifying situation he was in, Apollo managed to crack a smile. He stood up, took a deep breath, and announced, “I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm fine!”

Athena grinned. “There we go! And I'm Athena Cykes, and I'm also fine!” she exclaimed. “Hey, this really  _ does _ work! I'm not any less terrified, but I've got more energy.” She looked over at Maya, who was now sitting on the chair, facing away from them. “Give it a shot, Maya.”

“Who's Maya?” asked a voice that may have been coming from Maya, but didn't sound familiar at all. It was a lot more childlike than the way the (admittedly still a kid at heart) spirit medium spoke.

Apollo and Athena looked at each other, terrified. The person in the chair turned to face them with a face that wasn't Maya's at all. “Who're you two? Where are my friends?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is where we start seeing the five children, my OCs. They'll come up every now and then.


	7. Night Three (Part Two)

This was bad. This was really bad. Not only were there murderous animatronics on the outside of the office, there was now a potentially unstable ghost on the  _ inside _ .

A few seconds passed in agonizing, terrifying silence. Apollo and Athena could only stare at the spirit that had taken over Maya. And the spirit stared back... doing nothing.

“Well?” it asked again. “Who are you?”

Athena was the first to break out of her fear-induced paralysis. “H-Hi there, my name is Athena,” she greeted, as softly as possible as to not agitate the spirit. “A-And this is Apollo.”

The spirit started kicking its legs back and forth on the chair, much like a bored kid would. However, with how small the spirit was, all that managed to do was kick the bottom of Maya's outfit some. “Are you two grownups? You don't look grown up.”

“U-Uh, yes. We are. We're lawyers,” Apollo said, one hand reaching behind him for the hockey stick, should the spirit try anything.

“Cool. My dad's a lawyer. You might know him. My name's Peter,” the spirit – Peter, apparently – replied.

Athena knelt down so that she was level with Peter, who had rendered Maya's body a lot smaller than it already was. “Do you know where you are, Peter?” she asked sweetly, with all the patience of a kindergarten teacher.

Peter nodded. “Uh-huh... I'm at Freddy Fazbear's. I wonder when my mom and dad will come back... I've been playing a long time and I'm kinda tired...”

The two lawyers exchanged nervous glances. Was it a good idea to break it to the kid that he'd been dead for decades? Probably not yet... best to play along, Apollo figured.

“Do you know how you ended up here in the security office, Peter?” Apollo questioned, using the same gentle tone Athena had used.

“Nuh-uh,” Peter said, shaking his head. He then put his hands up and felt Maya's hair. “Huh? That's not my hair. This is girl hair!” He tugged on Maya's hair. “Ow.”

Athena tried both door lights before continuing to talk to Peter. Nothing. “So you don't know how you ended up here?”

“Nope. I was playing in the closet when Artie told me there were three people in the office. There's never three people in the office! So I came down the hall to see and now I'm here.”

Apollo raised an eyebrow. “Who's Artie?”

Peter grinned. “He's my friend! He's always playing hide and seek so I don't see him a lot. He said he came in here and that you guys yelled at him. But you don't look like bad people. I think Artie made a mistake.”

Athena turned to Apollo. “Hey,” she said, quiet enough that Peter couldn't hear. “You think this 'Artie' was the weird Freddy that was in here a little while ago?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Apollo answered, shrugging.

“You guys aren't saying mean stuff about me, are you?” Peter asked with a pout. “Grownups are so mean! Holden says you're all awful and evil!”

This caught the two lawyers off guard. Who was Holden? “E-Er, no, Peter,” Apollo said, really hoping that Peter didn't have any special ghost powers that he could use against them. “We were trying to figure something out. Who is 'Holden'?”

Peter scowled. “Why should I tell you, huh? You guys are just a buncha mean grownups. Holden says I gotta take you backstage!” he exclaimed. He hopped up and charged at Apollo, but before he could reach him, he collapsed.

Apollo yelped in fear and pressed himself up against the back wall. This may have been a kid he was dealing with, but it was a ghost kid. Who knew what they could do?

Maya's body was returning to normal size. “Ugh...”

“M-Maya?” Athena tested, one hand on the golf club.

“Yep, that's me...” Maya said, a little dazed. “Did I accidentally channel someone?”

Athena nodded numbly. “Y-Yeah. And it was scary. Do you remember anything.”

“No... I completely black out when I channel... Who was it?”

“Some kid named Peter. We asked him a few questions but he got really upset at us and tried to attack me,” Apollo said.

This surprised Maya. “And you didn't knock me out?” she asked, feeling all around her head for any bumps and bruises. “... Nope. You didn't. What happened then?”

“He collapsed,” Athena explained. Thumps on the right. She whirled around and shut out Chica before she could come inside.

Maya made a confused face. “That doesn't... usually happen... Unless someone forced him out of me. Let me see if...” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Yes, there's another spirit lingering around here, and it wants to talk. It... It doesn't  _ feel _ hostile, but...” She got up off the floor and began rummaging through the boxes on the back wall.

“What are you looking for?” Apollo asked.

"Something you can use to bind me to that chair. Rope, or twine, or a cord... aha!” Maya pulled a long extension cord out of one of the boxes.

She sat down on the chair and handed the cord to Athena.

“You want me to... tie you to the chair? With this?” Athena asked incredulously.

“It's better than nothing!” Maya retorted.

Athena did as she asked, making sure not to bind Maya too tightly. “Like this?”

Apollo shook his head. “You aren't really going to do this, are you?” he questioned. Was he the only one who realized how ridiculous this idea was? Sure, one spirit had tried to kill them, but the others must be perfectly safe, right? He sighed. “Fine. But I'm knocking you out if it tries anything.”

“That's a risk I gotta accept as a spirit medium, Apollo,” Maya said, trying to see if she could break free from the cord. “Okay, I think that's good. Here goes nothing...”

She breathed deeply, inviting the spirit lingering in the office into her body. Her body began to shrink, but not as much as it had when she had accidentally channeled Peter.

“Er, hello?” Athena asked, using the same gentle tone she had with Peter.

The spirit turned to face Athena with a face that wasn't Maya's, but hadn't been Peter's either. “Hello,” it greeted back calmly. “I'm sorry about my brother. He's too young to understand what happened to him...”

Apollo took a step back, reaching towards the hockey stick again. “You're not gonna attack us, are you?”

The spirit shook its head. “No. If I can help myself, anyway...”

“What do you mean?” Athena asked.

“I'm not always in control of my actions... It's hard to explain...”

Kneeling down to the spirit's level, Apollo quietly checked how tight the bounds on Maya's body were. Okay, this one couldn't break free. “Start with what you do know?”

The spirit sighed. “I know... that I'm dead. And that I've been dead a long time. What year is it?”

Athena and Apollo glanced at each other, as if trying to decide whether or not to tell the spirit. This one couldn't hurt them, so why not? “It's, uh...” Athena said, trying to figure out the best way to phrase this. “It's 2028.”

“That's a long time,” the spirit said, frowning. “My name is Clara, by the way. Peter's my brother and I hope I stopped him before he hurt you.”

“That was you that knocked Maya out?” Apollo asked, surprised. Athena opened up Widget's digital interface, presumably to analyze Clara's emotions.

Clara looked down at herself. “Maya... You mean this body. I didn't knock her out. I just grabbed Peter's arm and yelled at him.”

“And that removed him from Maya's body?” Athena wondered. “Hmm, I should ask her or Pearly what that's about later.”

“How old were- er, are you, Clara?” was Apollo's next question.

After thinking for a moment, Clara answered “I'm... eleven, I think. I...” She looked down at her lap, sniffling. “I can't remember...”

Athena patted Clara's shoulder gently. “Hey, it'll be okay. We're here to help.”

Clara looked up at Athena and sniffled again. “You are? You're not going to hurt us?” She looked beyond Athena and out the left door. “Shut that door, please. Peter's outside.”

“Huh?” Athena asked, hitting the left door light. Bonnie's face greeted her, and she immediately shut the door. “You mean-?”

“Yes. We're stuck in the animatronics. I mean, we can leave them, but why would we? It's the only way we get to walk around,” Clara explained. “Um, I know you have those camera things. Check those and see for yourself.”

Apollo picked up the tablet and checked the camera, tilting it so that Clara could see. Foxy had moved from Pirate Cove and was now standing outside the curtain.

“Oh, Jimmy's out,” Clara commented. She turned and looked out the right-side door. “Check for me.”

By process of elimination, Apollo figured that the 'me' Clara was referring to was either Freddy or Chica. He decided to check for Chica first, flicking the camera over to the east hall.

Chica was standing there, in the hall, but something was different about her. Instead of looking at the camera like she usually did, she was still, staring straight ahead, like in daytime mode. “Is that you?” Apollo asked.

Clara nodded. “Yeah. Looks like Holden hasn't noticed I'm gone yet...”

“Who's Holden?” Athena questioned.

Before Clara could answer, a loud laugh sounded through the air. Chica stiffened and began to walk forward.

“Oh no! He noticed! I'll tell you later but I've got to go! I'm sorry!” Clara exclaimed. Maya's body slumped forward for a few seconds.

Maya woke up a moment later. “Okay, still tied to the chair... That's good, right?”

Athena nodded. “Yeah. Everything's fine. It was a friendly spirit.”

“Did you learn anything?” Maya asked.

“Yeah,” Apollo said, checking the doors. Bonnie had gone elsewhere, so he opened the left door. Whatever Clara was doing was keeping Chica at bay, so they were clear for now. “Um, the spirit couldn't stay very long, but I don't think it's them that's attacking us. Well, not all of them...”

“Both of them mentioned a 'Holden'. I guess that's whoever is possessing Freddy. I think we need to talk to this spirit. But uh, not tonight. I've had enough scares for tonight,” Athena continued, untying Maya from the chair.

Maya rolled her shoulders, looking relieved to be freed. “Yeah, I'd like to rest before channeling anything else...”

Apollo looked at his phone. “Hey, it's 5 AM. Check the power.”

“We've got 19% left. I think we actually made it this time,” Athena said, taking the tablet from Apollo.

There were footsteps coming down the right hallway. Apollo shut the right-side door before flicking on the light.

Chica's face appeared in the window, but there was something off about her. Her head was twitching, and the robotic mumbling was louder than ever.

“I analyzed what Clara told us,” Athena said, pulling up Widget's interface again. Apollo and Maya went and looked over Athena's shoulder. “I think these kids are where all the fear in the 'voices' of the animatronics is coming from. She was telling the truth, for what I can mostly tell, but everything was coated with surprise and fear. More so when she mentioned this 'Holden'.”

“Can you hear her heart right now?” Apollo asked, pointing to Chica, who was still in the window.

Athena nodded, straining her ears to listen. “Yes. I think... she's angry? There's lots of malice in whatever Chica is mumbling.”

“Let's try and keep them out of the room when they're in the robots?” Maya offered, sitting back down on the chair.

“That's the plan,” Apollo said, scowling at the robot, who made no indication that she noticed it.

Suddenly, there were loud footsteps coming down the left hallway.

“Door!” Athena yelled. Apollo, who was closer to the left, slammed his hand down on the button.

As soon as the door closed, there were the same loud knocking sounds from the night before. Maya shrieked and fell off the chair again. Athena caught her before she could hit the ground.

“Whoa!” Maya exclaimed, getting to her feet with Athena's help.

“You okay?” Athena asked.

Maya nodded. “Yeah. Uh.. I guess you've seen that before?”

Apollo sighed. “Sadly, yes... That'd be Foxy. He likes to bang on the door at random times. B-but he's so loud it's hard not to hear him coming.” Was he shaking? Apollo held his hands out in front of himself. Yep... he was shaking. So much for getting used to things...

Despite their absolutely terrible job at power conservation the first two nights, they were somehow able to get to 6 AM with 2% of their power remaining. Apollo chalked it up to being too distracted by the spirits to do much of anything with the cameras.

“Does that chime play every time?” Maya asked, as the last bell of the grainy Westminster chime faded.

“Yeah. Sometimes I think it's mocking us,” Apollo answered. He sighed and picked up the hockey stick. “Which way this time, Athena? Left or right? Do we want an evil rabbit or an evil bird?”

Athena frowned. “Hey, I don't think these kids are evil... Whatever's controlling them, though? Evil. Definitely evil.”

They decided on the left again, but it didn't seem to matter; wherever Bonnie was, it certainly wasn't the west hall.

“Oh, the daytime security guard should be in in a few minutes. She's a real crab,” Apollo said, running a hand through his hair. He had it gelled up so often that the feeling of it down around his face like this when he wasn't washing it was foreign to him.

“Does she go on and on about how kids are impolite and how back in her day things were better?” she asked with a grin.

Apollo nodded. “Yeah... That's her.”

“Nick and I had a few run-ins with her about ten years ago. She's got a bad habit of witnessing murders,” Maya said, as if witnessing murders was a normal habit for one to have.

The back door opened. “Speak of the devil,” muttered Apollo quietly.

This time, Oldbag just stared at them for a few moments. “You...” she finally said, looking straight at Maya. “Do I know you from some place?”

Maya feigned confusion. “Me? No, ma'am. These two are just training me in case they have to go,” she explained, hoping the old lady would buy it.

“Tch, leaving so soon? I'd say I'm surprised, but I'm not, really. What I _am_ surprised about is that you two actually had the motivation to come back a third night,” Oldbag replied, scowling. She walked over to Freddy, who was off the stage and near the back of the dining room.

Oldbag pressed a switch hidden somewhere on Freddy's back. To the surprise of everyone else present, Bonnie appeared from backstage and Chica came out of the kitchen. Along with Freddy, they got up on the stage and resumed their daytime positions.

“Whoa,” Athena commented. “What was that?”

“That? Freddy's got a master switch,” Oldbag answered.

Apollo, Athena, and Maya all exchanged worried looks. That wasn't good... “If you don't mind me asking, ma'am,” Apollo began, making sure to sound as polite as possible. “Could you please tell us why?”

“Oh my, actual manners,” Oldbag said, lifting an eyebrow. “Maybe your generation isn't a lost cause after all. Anyway, they told me it's a holdover from back when they used to roam around during the day. Freddy was always on stage, so it was easiest to have a master switch on him that controlled the other two.”

Athena glanced over at Pirate Cove. “Do you know if controls Foxy too, ma'am?”

“What do I look like, a mechanic? Foxy's been broken for forty years! Look, they just tell me to move them back to the stage and to let them know if there's a night guard or not when I come in. I don't have a detailed history. Now scram!”

They did as they were told.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [knock knock it's knuckles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHCgn5pGoQY)


End file.
